Quote:
Originally Posted by E90SLAM
So far Max did alright, Sunday's crash with Grosjean was also due to the Lotus brakes earlier than normal due to fuel saving and more lift and coast.
He tried to do a dummy and went on the inside, but failed and rear-ended Grosjean cause the Lotus slowed down tremendously at the crossing point.
Rookies tend to make more benzai move. Like Perez did with Button a few years ago. But now many of them calmed down and fewer do-or-die moves.
However, I'd rather see higher-quality battles like Hamilton-Rosberg in Bahrain, or Button/Alonso etc. Or Ricciardo and Alonso last year in Silverstone. Those are clean and side-by-side fights.  |
I agree with this. He did hit that wall pretty hard and I'm glad he is alright. There's a wild cockpit cam video floating around that gives a first person perspective on the incident:
I bolded the area of your post that I wanted to comment on though. Max is young (He'd only have his learner's permit where I am from) and, of course, a rookie so that zealousness and lack of experience are certainly going to have an effect on his performance whether its gaining critical WDC/WCC points or clipping a Lotus and smashing in to a protective barrier. His ignorance (from being new) had him tell the box crew his strategy. Lotus was, of course, listening and Grosjean locked him out of the corner. I don't want to editorialize what happened since we all saw it but he did receive that 5-place grid penalty for Canada. Grosjean went in on Max saying he "forgot his braking points" but I think GRO braked a little late and hard and messed up Max's
But the incident enabled an otherwise tame, forgettable race to finish with some excitement and some good duels with the MBZs and Scuderia. It closed up some BIG gaps.
re: the bolded part. It is true that many of them calm down more and more while maturing as a driver. It becomes less about lessons learned and more about tire/fuel/pit strategy i.e. less about racing and more about conservation and preservation. It becomes - and has become - less exciting as these drivers take less risk. The meta-strategy trumps the corner strategy (which makes sense in terms of total season results, prizes, rewards and contract kickers - and there is a LOT of money of the line) but this focus has diverted the focus and the fun off the track.
It is my humble opinion that Formula 1 needs more of an infusion of Max's, younger drivers who are willing to push the car to its limit, to take more risks, that have a whole career ahead of them and aren't just trying to coast through 70 laps to retirement.
If Verstappen is indicative of the next generation of F1 drivers, the kids coming up through the young driver programs and F1, GP2, etc., then I am optimistic that we will see a turn-around in the sport. It'll take a few years but new drivers, new teams, "better" engines are all on the horizon and I see the sun coming up soon again.