Recently on the F1 Nation Podcast, Giedo van der Garde came to Max Verstappen's defence. According to the former F1 driver, the reason why Max Verstappen refuses to apologise is because he simply wants to race hard and win.
After Max Verstappen and Lando Norris's battle during the Mexican Grand Prix, Verstappen was once again ridiculed for his driving style. His techniques were called out as "unsportsmanlike." After gaining an off-track advantage, Verstappen held the position at the expense of Norris's race. Norris was unable to pass Verstappen quickly.
Verstappen's trademark
In Brazil, Verstappen mentioned that he understood the penalty he received. He did not go on to apologize for it, as that is his "trademark" racing style. Van Der Garde mentions that ''All he wants is to win races. He goes all-in, and sometimes it is a bit too much.'' In his conversation with Tom Clarkson and Natalie Pinkham, he continued, "We saw this in Mexico, especially with the second action, where he went too wide and pushed Lando off the track".
Van Der Garde was featured on the podcast's Las Vegas Grand Prix episode, where the defending champion, Verstappen, was a hot topic. Van De Gardefeels as if Verstappen's trade mark is that "he never makes excuses for anything he does. He races hard because he wants to win. He wants to win titles; he wants to win races. That's how he is; people know that from his beginnings in Formula 1. He races hard. Anyone who sees Max Verstappen in the mirrors thinks, 'Here he comes again'".
Verstappen managed to silence the critics a week after Mexico with his performance in Brazil. Once again, he showed what he is made of by winning the Brazilian GP in bad weather and from 17th place.
This article is in collaboration with Tim Kraaij.
There is nothing for Max to apologize about. He is the fastest and best in F1 today, destroying records Hamilton could not touch in 8 years with a dominant car. Max took the highest winning percentage in a season, in a year when there were 10 or more races per season than Ascari's time. Keep doing what you are doing Max. The results speak for themselves.
To simply ignore the fact Verstappen had a hugely dominate car is just cherry picking facts to suit your sad agenda. Hard driving is fine but dirty driving isn't.
That how it works F1nut, you seem to have forgotten that Max is unquestionably the greatest driver who ever lived and he'll go down in the history books alongside Schumacher....flawed genius never acknowledging they were wrong and then apologising for it...you silly billy ?
In many of the years Lewis drove with Mercedes, he had a car of at least equal or greater advantage as Max did in 2022/23, with an estimated 50 h.p. advantage in "party mode" over the competition. The difference is Lewis had that type of equipment for 7-8 years, unlike Max's dominant vehicle of 2 years. Alberto Ascari's record of winning percentage is the most highly coveted single season statistic along with most wins which Max holds as well.
Time to wake up.
I
He didn't have that advantage for those 7-8 years, It's easy to tell how good the RB is and that is Perez came 2nd last year.
It's impossible to tell how good the car was back then to now but they definitely had more DNFs back then. Lewis had a good car and Max had a good car but as we seen recently take the dominant car away and Max's wins disappear, ( He had a superb drive in Brazil) it's almost like the car makes a difference, who would have thought it.
He did that second move at Mexico because he was rightly pissed that Lando was not asked to give the position back after "going off track and gaining a position" at the earlier move.
Lando cut the corner and got ahead of him at the earlier corner, so why wasn't Lando asked to give that position back?
Ye lando gaind avantage going of track lando know he was not going make the corner
Nope, Lando was entitled to space as he was further along side going into the corner. But hey just because he was pissed that makes it fair right enough to blatantly drive someone off the track right?
Perhaps Lewis was pissed as well at Copse 21 so that would be fair right?
@Mech, Your argument about Lando Norris "going off track and gaining a position" doesn't hold up when we analyze the situation.
It’s true Lando went wide, but the stewards typically assess whether a driver gained a lasting advantage. In this case, Verstappen’s positioning forced Lando wide, and any advantage gained was negligible because they were side-by-side almost immediately after. If Verstappen had been disadvantaged enough to merit a swap, the stewards would have intervened. This is why RedBull refused the right to appeal.
That second move, simply is two wrongs don’t make a right. Even if Verstappen felt aggrieved, deliberately pushing another driver wide to prove a point is not justified. Racing etiquette and rules exist to prevent incidents like this from escalating. Then
Perhaps Lewis was pissed as well at Copse 21 so that would be fair right?
The stewards' role: Drivers may feel slighted during close battles, but the stewards assess incidents objectively. If there was no penalty for Lando, it’s because they deemed it unnecessary. Verstappen's frustration, while understandable, doesn’t give him license to enforce his version of the rules on track.
Racing is about skill and respect, not, dive bombing the apex and forcing drivers off track, settling perceived injustices mid-race. Verstappen’s actions in Mexico were more about frustration than fairness.
"Malarkey"? That’s a convenient dismissal with no substance. Care to elaborate? Or is this just a case of deflecting because you don’t have a counterargument to the points raised?
If you disagree, back it up with something concrete instead of empty labels.
This is becoming a trend with you ibohunt.
Well if the facts are so "obvious," then why not present them? Simply saying "correct and fair" doesn’t make it so. The stewards didn’t instruct Lando to give the position back because they deemed it a racing incident. Max’s second move, however, was a clear breach of the rules. Facts are facts, whether they fit your narrative or not. If you have evidence to refute this, now’s the time to share it. Otherwise, it seems your argument is running away ....
Putting Herbert face on, doesn't mean you are a steward on this blog now!..........By the way they are talking about Max and Norris..Not Lewis story's.....You need to watch the Brazil race again and see how its done from the best in the world 17th to 1st...
If you didn't get it, you won't get and I am okay with that .
Well done.
Their pain is immense. Standy by, 4th championship on the way...
Lol.... "Their pain is immense" that's funny stuff. Grow up : )
Thats what fans want to see is racing hard not wingers over the radio like lando dose .max knows rules and use the to his addvantage thats what great drivers do
Morning Mav, it's only hard fair racing is the driver doesn't get a penalty for it, a penalty then makes it unfair surely, and that applies to any driver in my view, the stewards have a lot more information at their fingertips to review than us fans watching TV screen and listening to pundits ( who aren't always right btw ). If a driver is going to keep pushing the rules of defending /attacking it stands to reason that sometimes they will overstep the mark, in Max' case to apologise when he's in the wrong would probably go a long way to reducing the negativity towards him I would think instead of having to read idiotic 'that's his trademark style' comments from the likes of GvdG
It deprnds on the steward as well if its herbert you know max will get a penalty??
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