F1 News
Hamilton lucky: 'That's the protection he needs'
- GPblog.com
Max Verstappen will start the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia on Sunday afternoon in third place. The Dutchman seemed on course for pole position in qualifying, but drove hard into the wall just before the finish line. It gives Lewis Hamilton a big advantage in the race, Peter Windsor stressed.
The journalist looked on his own YouTube channel back on the exciting qualifying session. Where he saw Hamilton set a very fast time, he noticed that Verstappen was doing everything he could to get over the performance. Before that, Verstappen knew he had to do better especially in Sector 3.
"It was maximum at the end of Q3, the pole was up for grabs. Purple in sector one, where he had been fast throughout qualifying. Faster than both Mercedes cars, constantly because of that tighter slower section, the increased downforce, the superior downforce of Adrian Newey," Windsor stated. "Sector two was also very fast because of that blind high speed. The only thing left was sector three, which is mostly straight."
Hamilton gets lucky with Bottas
Valtteri Bottas also proved to be faster than Verstappen, leaving the Red Bull Racing driver to start the race in third place. "That's the protection Lewis needs, because the bottom line is that if he doesn't finish this race because of some accident, the World Championship will go to Verstappen."