F1 Australian GP: Max Verstappen lashes out at Lewis Hamilton for ‘breaking the rules’ in their first lap battle at Melbourne
Max Verstappen called out Lewis Hamilton for not giving him space in the Australian GP.
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Max Verstappen & Lewis Hamilton. Images via F1 and MARCA.
Max Verstappen had a tricky race start in the Australian GP. In turn 1, he lost out to the Mercedes driver, George Russell. In turn 2, Lewis Hamilton made a move on him and took the second position. Verstappen was unhappy with the incident. He immediately complained over the radio to his race engineer. The Dutchman did not feel he was given enough space per the rules.
Nevertheless, Verstappen had one of the best weekends of his career. He qualified P1 and took the win home. It is his first win in Albert Park. In his post-race interview, Verstappen expressed his happiness. While delighted with his win, he also pointed out Hamilton’s actions on lap 2. This is not the first battle between the duo. There have been other incidents of the drivers running wide and accusations of not giving space.
The Red Bull driver stated, “From my side, I just tried to avoid contact. It’s quite clear in the rules what you’re allowed to do now on the outside. Clearly, it’s not followed, but that’s okay. But we had a good pace. We pass them anyway. But it’s something for the next races to take into account.” The FIA publishes guidelines. The drivers are required to follow it. Max Verstappen called out Hamilton for not following the rules.
Max Verstappen won the race despite the chaos and several restarts
According to the guidelines, “In order for a car being overtaken to be required to give sufficient room to an overtaking car, the overtaking car needs to have a significant portion of the car alongside the car being overtaken and the overtaking manoeuvre must be done in a safe and controlled manner while enabling the car to clearly remain within the limits of the track.”
Max Verstappen revealed that he took it easy because he had much to lose. The two-time world champion had a poor start but was careful because he did not want to take risks. He feels that had he taken it and pushed harder, there might have been a collision or an unpleasant situation. However, Red Bull had a good pace and won the race.
The Australian GP was chaotic and intense. Verstappen kept calm throughout the race and took his RB19 to the chequered flag. He moved cautiously to avoid mistakes. This included the incident with Hamilton. If the drivers do not abide by the rules while overtaking inside the corner, the stewards will check and give a penalty accordingly. However, the stewards did not look into the incident as it was insignificant.
In case you missed it:
- F1 Australian GP: “We can close the gap,” Lewis Hamilton sends warning to Max Verstappen and Red Bull after P2 finish.
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Sugantha Meena
(493 Articles Published)