Palmer: Max continually went beyond what was allowed

Jolyon Palmer, former Formula 1 driver and now expert on the championship’s official website, analyzed the battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris during the Austrian Grand Prix and tried to explain where the three-time world champion was wrong.

During the duel between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris at the Austrian Grand Prix, we should not talk about a single contact between their cars, but about several manoeuvres that preceded the incident and set the tone for the dramatic development of events.

Max was unlucky in Austria when a stuck pitstop cost him four seconds of his hard-won lead, while it looked like victory was in his pocket. From that moment on, a real race started between him and Lando, with both fighting incredibly hard for 10 laps. There were several bright spots in this battle.

The most important ones, from my point of view, were three, and the first one was related to Norris’ first attempt to overtake at Turn 3.

In motorsports, there have always been clear rules on how to act when overtaking and how to defend a position. When you defend, you must do it correctly and not deviate from the trajectory at the last moment, when the opponent is already planning to perform a maneuver. Also, you can’t change gear in braking zones, and this applies less to precise movements of the steering wheel, and more to the trajectory along which the car is driving.

Sometimes drivers push the boundaries, react instinctively when checking their rear-view mirrors, or misjudge the distances between cars, all of which happen late in a maneuver.

All these rules exist because such actions can lead to collisions, because it is difficult for a driver who is behind to change the trajectory or slow down in a few moments when his car is in a turbulent zone, the road grip is already at the limit, and he then tries to overtake.

When Norris first tried to pass Verstappen, Max made a late manoeuvre in response to his actions: the Red Bull driver came to the apex early from the outside line, blocking the path of Lando, who was on the inside of the corner.

Norris avoided contact at the last moment by locking his wheels and drifting to the left, then lost the chance to attack again at Turn 4. He complained about Max’s actions on the radio, and I think he was right.

In the early stages of his career Max regularly acted on the edge of what was allowed, while moving in the braking zone, and the rule that forbade this even bore his name. In Austria his manoeuvre was probably already beyond this line, but I think that if it happens once the stewards usually turn a blind eye, but often warn that it does not happen again.

But now there was no warning and Max kept reacting at the last moment, when Lando was about to pass him by braking late. Even when Norris found himself off the track during one of the laps, he immediately regained his position and did the right thing, and the fight continued.

The next big moment came when the McLaren driver again braked very late in an attempt to take the inside line, and Verstappen maintained his position by going off track.

In my opinion it was an excellent maneuver by Lando, because he managed to slow down, reach the apex and take the corner very cleanly, almost without touching the curb at the exit. At the apex he was already ahead of Max, who had the chance to take the corner normally without pretending to be pushed off the track.

Instead, Max started accelerating when Lando was on the inside of the corner, but the Red Bull driver tried to go on the outside line, even though there was no more room on the exit of the corner. This maneuver was already outside the rules and Max should have given up the position immediately, but he refused to do so. For this alone, he should have received a ten-second time penalty, especially since a similar precedent already existed this season.
Eventually, contact occurred between the cars, ruining the race for both. Norris was planning to attack again in turn 3, but Verstappen was in the middle of the track. Then Lando tried to do something different and decided to take the outside radius.

At this point Max had to get back on the racing line to get through the corner himself and prepare to exit it, but you have to leave enough space on the outside so as not to force your opponent off the track. Of course Verstappen didn’t leave any space, which led to a collision and he was rightly given a penalty.

When Max’s manoeuvres were considered individually, none of them were too obvious. Even when contact between the machines occurred, it was relatively minor. However, when analysing this battle, it is necessary to consider the picture as a whole and not to pick out the individual elements.

Max was constantly going beyond the limits, which doesn’t contribute to a normal and proper battle on the track, although that’s exactly what we want to see. We want the battles to be intense, but not the battles where the stewards have to decide the outcome. I would like everything to be decided during the battles on the track (even though, ironically, Norris had already received a 5-second time penalty during the race for breaking the track limits, but that’s another story).

Max is a true champion, he has always been an incredibly tough competitor and very often he succeeds. We really want to see him continue to fight on the track, and Verstappen has wanted us to do that for a long time. In Austria, however, he did not act correctly; he made too many dubious manoeuvres, which made it almost impossible to stay ahead of him.

Theoretically, Lando could have avoided the collision if he had pulled to the side of the road to avoid Max, but he was unwilling to give up, hoping his opponent would give him enough space, as required by the rules.

But an even more important point is that Verstappen often forces the stewards to make decisions that determine the outcome of races, rather than what happens on track.

Lando and Max were friends, they treated each other with respect for a long time, but I think after Austria there will probably be a change in the way they fight. Thanks to this, the weekend at Silverstone promises to be even more exciting.