When Nico Rosberg took pole position for the Belgium Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was watching on television with his feet up.
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The Red Bull F1 duo had mixed results in the Belgian Grand Prix, with Daniel Ricciardo finishing second and Max Verstappen coming home 11th. At the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps, it had a colour. “If Vettel hadn’t turned in and left one more metre of room, we would have all gotten through”, said the Red Bull driver.
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (AP) – He’s very fast, very young and very confident. “I haven’t had that with any other driver”.
The big talking point was the Verstappen v Raikkonen affair, and it was great entertainment while also arguably highlighting the best and worst traits of the Dutch teenager during the weekend. According to him, Verstappen’s technique which was to drive in the middle of the track and swiftly shift to defensive stand only at the last moment is susceptible to accidents.
As for the incidents later in the race at Les Combes, Verstappen admits he was taking out his frustration on both Ferrari drivers for ruining a golden opportunity to challenge Nico Rosberg for a second career victory.
Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button are all in their mid-30s.
Lewis Hamilton put on a driving spectacle to finish third after starting from the back of the grid. Legions of orange-clad fans queued at the entry gates.
“He’s refreshing, for me”. ‘I’m not letting them get away with that, I’d rather run them off the road, ‘ he said.
“I just fear that it might end up in the wall heavily one day”.
High praise indeed, from Wolff, who might have added that Verstappen also has some of the brashness that typified seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher.
“I was a victim in the first corner, you could see clearly I was on the inside, nearly 90%”, he insisted.
In defending his position, Verstappen is accused of holding station in the middle of the track before dramatically changing his line under braking. “As much as we like his (unpredictability) … for me it’s refreshing but it’s risky”.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner (pictured, with Verstappen and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko) conceded Verstappen “pushed the limit” with his driving but pointed out the stewards chose not to penalize him.
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“The FIA has not penalised it (his driving), the only thing that happened is he was given a hard time in some driver briefings, maybe next time he’s going to have an even harder time in the next driver briefing”. Both Ferrari drivers had a go on supersofts late on, but chose to abort those laps, hence they too can start on the yellow-marked rubber, along with Ricciardo. At the same time Sebastian Vettel was attempting to pass around the outside and clipped Raikkonen, sending Vettel into a spin and puncturing Raikkonen’s tire.
