Albers on Verstappen's attack on Hamilton: 'That was not correct'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
For Christijan Albers, victory and the supremacy of Lewis Hamilton did not come as a surprise. The former Minardi-driver also notes that Hamilton was able to drive a more aggressive engine position and moreover the Brazilian circuit was in favour of Mercedes. Verstappen could therefore not do much about it. Yet he is also critical of the Dutchman.
Being fooled
In the Formula 1 podcast of the Telegraaf, Albers states that Verstappen did not correctly assess Hamilton's first attempt to overtake him on the long straight. "Max allowed himself to be fooled because Lewis was actually too far away," states Albers. "Max messed up. I think he was shocked that Lewis went round the outside. Max thought he could close the gap and therefore could not position himself properly. He lost a lot of time as a result. But it's tricky. You're doing 330 kilometers an hour and you've got small mirrors. It's hard to judge the distance."
A much-talked-about moment was the overtaking manoeuvre where both drivers briefly came alongside the track. Albers says he had a bit of a problem with this. "Max steered a bit to the right and I didn't think that was right. He doesn't need that. With the Red Bull, Max just drove a good race. Max made the most of it and limited the damage. The Mercedes was just many times faster. "
Good luck
Zooming in on the incident, Albers pinpoints more precisely what was wrong with Verstappen's action. "He (Hamilton) did get it wrong a bit, just like in Silverstone. The difference is that Lewis is now on the outside. If Max keeps his wheel straight, there's nothing wrong. Then I can drive up to the tyre pile, then it's Hamilton's problem. But my problem is that he steered to the right. That is not correct. Coincidentally, there is no footage from the cockpit. I think Max was very lucky, because he could have had a penalty."