Max Verstappen did well in the championship in Austria, but the criticism was not mild. Lando Norris and Andrea Stella were of course angry after the crash between the two rivals, but also analysts from abroad and at home, including Jolyon Palmer, Olav Mol, and Robert Doornbos were unanimous in their judgment: Verstappen was rightly punished. Leading analyst Peter Windsor, however, has a completely different opinion.
‘First the crash: who was to blame, Max Verstappen or Lando Norris?’ Windsor immediately gets to the point with his analysis of the Austrian Grand Prix on his YouTube channel. ‘I’m probably the wrong person to ask this because I’ve said time and again that there’s a difference between the sporting regulations, which say that you always have to give the driver on the outside space, and what we all know is the essence of motorsport, namely ‘whose’ corner is. That’s always the driver on the inside. We all know that.’
Rules do not reflect reality
Windsor is annoyed that the sporting regulations were written by someone who, in his opinion, has no understanding of racing. ‘Yet there is someone who wrote this rule in the sporting regulations that as a driver you have to have a lot of space on the outside, and that he can’t push you wide. If he does, he gets a penalty. That’s basically how it works, and it drives me crazy, and many others with me,’ the 72-year-old believes.
Verstappen had the race under control for a long time, but in the second half of the race everything collapsed like a house of cards. ‘Max was driving on used tyres, and Lando on a new set. That makes a big difference in performance with relatively little fuel. In addition, Max lost about four seconds during a delay with the pit stop. He did not come out of the pit lane with a six-second lead – which would have been enough for the win even on used tyres – but he drove out with Norris in his mirrors.’
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Norris or Verstappen?
After the team’s mistake, a titanic battle ensued. ‘Austria has three DRS zones, so he was a sitting duck. It was fascinating at that moment to see how Max would win that race. It seemed unimaginable that Max Verstappen would not win the Austrian Grand Prix. It is Red Bull’s home race, and he had led from the start. He was on pole position, he won the sprint race, and he had pole position for the sprint race,’ Windsor summed up.
There was also a lot to be said for a different result. ‘However, there also seemed to be no way that Norris would not win, because he had three DRS zones and new tires, and the McLaren was clearly faster when it came to grip. On the straights he would also not lose out to the Red Bull, because of the DRS’, the Englishman indicates.
Verstappen holds his ground
It didn’t take long for the attack to start. ‘There was a lot of confusion, because of the DRS, with big speed differences. That’s why Norris arrived at the corner fifteen to twenty kilometres per hour faster without even trying’, Windsor reports. ‘He was on the outside of turn three a few times, and that’s one of the overtaking spots. He went wide, and shot through, and had to give the place back to Max. He did that. Then he tried it on the next straight, towards turn four, and that didn’t really work.’
The fight moved back to the third corner, where Verstappen also fought a hard duel with Charles Leclerc in 2019. ‘That forced him to try again at turn three. They go over 300 kilometers per hour there, and you have to brake for a very slow corner. That’s where you have the biggest disadvantage without DRS. Lando wanted to stay on the outside, and then cut back on the exit of turn three, and catch him before turn four. That would have worked too, but the problem is in the rules.’
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‘Max did this very well’
‘How would Max defend, given the sporting regulations, and given that he is a driver who wants to win the Grand Prix?’ wonders Windsor. ‘He wants to defend his position of course. Max did very well up to that point, and also at that moment itself. He was in the middle of the road when he threatened to be overtaken. He kept moving slightly to the outside before turn three, just enough to distract Lando. Lando complained that Max was moving in response to his movement, but Max did it very well. He did it in a beautiful way,’ Windsor is full of praise for the actions of the world champion.
Windsor then goes on to discuss the lap of the crash, lap 63. ‘Max braked perfectly, even though he didn’t have as much grip as Lando Norris. He didn’t overbrake, and was in the middle of the road. He protected the corner, and made it clear that Lando couldn’t overtake him on the inside. Lando now also went obediently to the outside. He wanted to do an undercut on the exit. If you study Max’s onboard footage carefully, he doesn’t steer back to the left at all.’
Punishment irrelevant
According to Windsor, the race management misjudged the incident. ‘What actually happens is that the corner bends a bit to the left, but he doesn’t steer himself. The race management thinks he steers to the left, but he doesn’t do anything. He just keeps the steering wheel straight. The real problem is that the speed difference is artificially magnified because of DRS’, he repeats his criticism of the folding rear wing.
Ultimately, it led to contact. ‘The left rear of the Red Bull hit the right front of the McLaren. The Red Bull had a flat tire right away, and the McLaren not much later. Norris dropped out because of that. Verstappen got a penalty because he allegedly steered to the left. That’s just strange. That penalty didn’t matter, because Verstappen finished fifth anyway,’ said Windsor.
