“Nice catch”: How Verstappen’s canny bid to thwart Bottas almost succeeded

2021 Mexico City Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Max Verstappen demonstrated exceptional race awareness – and determination to exploit every points-scoring opportunity – when he interfered with Mercedes’ attempt to take the fastest lap bonus away from him in Sunday’s race.

Although Mercedes ultimately succeeded in depriving Red Bull of the bonus, it took them until the final lap to do so, and with a little luck Verstappen’s savvy might have been rewarded.

A first-corner crash and slow pit stop had left Valtteri Bottas languishing in 13th place. With no realistic hope of him scoring a point, Mercedes decided to use him to their advantage by giving him an extra pit stop for fresh tyres in order set the fastest lap. Although Bottas would finish outside the top 10 and not score the bonus point, the ploy would prevent Verstappen and Red Bull taking it.

However Bottas emerged from the pits in the mirrors of Verstappen, who was leading the race by almost 20 seconds from the other Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. When Red Bull explained to their driver why a quick Mercedes had suddenly appeared in his mirrors, Verstappen realised he could interfere with Bottas’ attempt to claim the bonus point.

He backed off by almost four seconds, sacrificing a small portion of his lead, and delayed Bottas. All of this was completely legal, as Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff acknowledged.

“It was a bit of playing around,” he said. “Max was aware that Valtteri was going for quickest lap and he then slowed him down, which is absolutely on, you can do that.”

Bottas eventually took the fastest lap – but not the bonus point
Bottas un-lapped himself from the Red Bull, at which point Verstappen speeded up again. He got close enough to Bottas that the Mercedes driver was automatically shown blue flags, which meant he had to slow down and let Verstappen lap him again.

As the transcript below shows, at no point did Red Bull tell Verstappen to do any of this. Indeed, they told him to increase his pace when he slowed to delay Bottas. He acted entirely on his own initiative.

“It certainly didn’t help our blood pressure on the pit wall,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. “Obviously there was a little bit of playing around because Max was keen to retain the fastest lap, so therefore he was trying to use the blue flag to ensure that Valtteri gave way to him and that Mercedes pitted him out of the way. So we weren’t going to do the same with Max, obviously.

“It was a little bit of gamesmanship again, haggling over that final point, which we didn’t want to get too drawn into.”

Perhaps anticipating Verstappen’s retaliation, Mercedes had left enough time in hand to pit Bottas again, give him further fresh tyres, and find a suitable spot in the queue of traffic to bang in the fastest lap. This time he was able to use DRS as he overtook George Russell, and his lap of 1’17.774 on the final tour beat Verstappen’s benchmark by over a second.

The race winner praised Bottas after their skirmish. “I can understand, of course, they go for the fastest lap,” said Verstappen, who trusted his world championship rival’s team mate to avoid any funny business.

“We were side-by-side but it was all good. We lost a lot of time but it was alright, to be honest, for me. I know Valtteri, he’s a clean driver anyway and I never was in doubt that something would happen.”

Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase complimented him on his tactics, saying “nice catch”. As the race ended Horner didn’t immediately realise Bottas had claimed the fastest lap back, and congratulated Verstappen on scoring the bonus before correcting himself.

But Verstappen’s shrewd move ensured that had his rival encountered more traffic or a yellow flag on the final lap, he and Red Bull would have kept a potentially crucial extra point.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Transcript: How Verstappen disrupted Bottas’ fastest lap bid

Note: Bottas was two laps behind Verstappen after making his third pit stop.

LapSpeakerMessageLapSpeakerMessage
63MusconiYou will be close to Verstappen at exit.65LambiaseBottas rejoins the track and lets Verstappen past approaching turn one
So Bottas at pit out now. He should let you through.
63MusconiBlue flags for Verstappen.65LambiaseSo he’s just fitted a scrubbed soft, obviously going for fastest lap. He won’t get the point.
63MusconiWe’ve got Stroll four seconds behind.65VerstappenWho has the fastest lap now.
63MusconiSo fastest lap is 18.999, which is -0.8 on your dash. DRS is worth quite a lot so try to keep with him.65LambiaseYou currently have it. As I say Bottas has a fresh soft on.
63BottasAnd what is Max’s lap times?
63Musconi19.2.
63MusconiStrat 5.
64BottasHe’s slowing me down.66LambiaseOkay five laps remaining, five laps remaining.
66LambiaseGap behind 2.8.
66LambiaseVerstappen slows down by over three seconds in one lap
Okay let’s get on with it, Max.
65MusconiYou can overtake him.67LambiaseBottas un-laps himself approaching turn one
Okay keep on him, he’ll have blues, but do not take any risks, Max.
65MusconiOkay so blue flags, let him by, and box, box, box we can charge the pack.67LambiaseOkay let him go, Max.
67VerstappenMate he is in front.
67VerstappenHe is in my way.
67LambiaseMax, he’s not quick.
67VerstappenNo, he is in my way.
67LambiaseUnderstood.
66MusconiLet me know if you need any other flap. Let him by, let him by.68VerstappenVerstappen laps Bottas again approaching turn one
Can he let me by please, I have DRS.
66MusconiSo is flap good for the first lap?68LambiaseOkay it sounds like Bottas is going to pit again and have another go. But that was a nice catch.
66BottasPlus two.68LambiaseThree laps remaining at Max, all focus next three laps, please. Full focus.
66MusconiSo box, box, box.
66MusconiSo brake balance for the line, second gear again, it will be five-second hold. So another soft, plus two.
67BottasCopy.
67MusconiMercedes hold Bottas in the pits to ensure he rejoins the track in a gap where he can set a quick time
Just be waiting five seconds for traffic.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2021 Mexico City Grand Prix

Browse all 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

66 comments on ““Nice catch”: How Verstappen’s canny bid to thwart Bottas almost succeeded”

  1. Yeah, that was a fun interesting moment of the race. Good thinking by Max.

    Also, it almost looked like Russel towing was coordinated, he moved over after giving the tow almost as exemplarily as Norris did in qualifying for Ricciardo!

    1. someone or something
      9th November 2021, 10:02

      @bascb
      I was suspicious of the same thing, so I re-watched the footage. I can confidently say that Russell’s behaviour showed absolutely no signs of inter-team cooperation. He drove normally, Bottas simply played his cards right. Most importantly, Russel didn’t “move over” for Bottas. He stayed on the racing line the entire time, leaving Bottas to go off-line for the overtake. It has to be said that he didn’t defend his position, either. But there was no point in doing that anyway. Russell’s tyres were over 50 laps old, his fastest laps were over 4 seconds off Bottas’ pace, and Bottas arrived with an excess in the order of 30 kph.
      Meanwhile, the only comment he received regarding Bottas when the latter came out of the pits was: We are racing him. The rest of the radio messages were lift & coast instructions with the aim of keeping the PU from overheating. Those messages started long before Bottas appeared, went on during their brief run-in on the track, and continued all the way to Parc Fermé.
      Long story short: There was no collusion of any kind.

    2. @bascb and Hamilton lapping Russell far better than Perez. Sometimes it just happens to be the case.

      The tv broadcast mostly missed this Max and Bottas battle. I was looking at the gaps and noticed the 4s loss, I think Max should have just tried to keep ahead. Bottas then repitted but I think it could have ended in tears, not that Bottas was going to Ocon, Max, bottas already has a contract.

      1. I watched on the F1TV pitlane channel, I think we got a bit more than the normal feed. Max slowed down (they only showed Bottas right behind him all of a sudden) before he could start a lap. Bottas then used the slipstream and DRS to get ahead after Mercedes told him that he could and then Max sped up to make sure he got blue flags, I don’t think it was really dangerous really @peartree.

        Thanks for having another good look at that someone or something, I guess the huge tyre difference and Russel not really having much incentive to try and prevent Bottas from flying past does explain that.

  2. I feel like the point for fastest lap has kind of run its course by now. It invariably goes to one of the top teams who pits within the last couple of laps. It’s a reward for having a 25 second gap behind you to slot back into. Or worse, it results in the second driver of the top teams giving up on their own race in order to prevent one of the WDC contenders from getting it themselves. Granted, so far drivers have only given up on 10th or lower positions to steal the point, but we could later have a situation where a 2nd driver gives up on on podium position to secure the WDC for their teammate. Is that really adding anything to ‘the show’? We also sometimes see drivers give up on chasing or fighting for a position in exchange for a near guaranteed fastest lap point.

    As long as we have designed to degrade tyres, this will always be the case, and personally I think it usually detracts from the race rather than adding excitement to it.

    1. I have issues where the team that get the fastest lap pit specifically for a set of tyres in order to do it, there needs to be a minimum laps proviso.

      1. AJ (@asleepatthewheel)
        9th November 2021, 10:26

        There are enough rules and provisions as it is, no thanks. Let it be this way or scrap the flap point entirely

      2. @maddme I’m not sure if a minimum stint length restriction would solve much. If it was say 5 laps then maybe the designated ‘fastest lap driver’ would just pit 5 laps from the end rather than on the penultimate lap. The only change I would make if they have to keep the fastest lap point would be to prevent drivers outside the top 10 from ‘stealing’ fastest lap from a points scorer despite not scoring the point themselves. Just make it so that only the points scorers are eligible so that pitting and taking yourself out of the points just to deny fastest lap is no longer a valid strategy.

        1. I agree with you Keith.
          The current system is a Yoke..a yoke haha

  3. Very clever and I it probably made his race a bit more interesting with something exciting to do. I am sure that controlling a race from the front is exciting in itself, but interfering with Botta’s plans must have been a welcome bit of fun.

  4. TV coverage totally missed this unfortunately, clearly visible in the time table however. Must say that in general Liberty can work on getting better TV directors. There must be fans out there amongst these coverage professionals.

  5. It is hugely impressive how much mental capacity Verstappen has during a race. He’s up there with Prost, Schumacher and Hamilton in that respect.

    1. It was typical Schumi actikn but so funny when people wanna put it in Lewis too, big illusion, Lewis is no Max or Schumi

    2. Coventry Climax
      9th November 2021, 11:44

      I’ll give Verstappen the credits for that as well, and I even agree with your comparison to the other drivers you mention (although you forgot Senna), but there is a nuance to be made: It is undenyable that some people panic more easily than others, some seem to have more room in their heads to deal with situations than others. But: Part of this is car behaviour. If you’re in a car that constantly requires all your ability to stay on track, there’s automatically less room to think about tactics.

      1. We do know the red bull is on the sharp end and requires a lot of attention.

    3. They’re was a brilliant TV documentary years ago about Schumi, showing that his reaction times were not unusual but showed that his ability to think and even hold conversations with his engineer whilst driving was truly remarkable. Hearing the actual conversations whilst seeing what was happening on track at the same time was impressive.
      So yes, some of these guys are special for sure.

    4. Hamilton?

      You spelled Alonso wrong.

  6. I don’t know why Valtteri tried to overtake Max at all instead of just dropping as far back as was needed to get a clean fast lap, getting full charge in the battery and all? The chance to score points himself was already gone completely.

    IMHO it would help if the fastest lap point was awarded for the fastest lap of any of the 10 points scorers, disregarding lap times of anyone out of the points. No more ‘free’ taking away that point, unless there’s a 25+ second gap (in which case it can be viewed as a reward for being able to pull that gap).

    1. I’d prefer it not to be there at all, but IF it has to, you should only get it if you actually posted the fastest lap. Anything else would be (even more) ridiculous.

    2. I don’t remember any outcry from Silverstone when Perez took FLAP from Ham and finished one lap down in 16th place. So it being restricted to the top ten seems to already be a non runner among the fans and sport.

      1. The circumstances in Silverstone were special, with Max getting crashed out and Lewis winning despite a penalty.
        Taking the point away from Lewis was at least a small compensation.

        1. Ah, so despite your argument that it should only be the top ten you now believe in some cases it should be allowed for those outside the top ten as ‘compensation’ for those you perceive have been slighted.

          1. @ian dearing

            That’s not what he said. He’s explaining why there was no outcry.

          2. @aapje Thats not an explanation. It is an assumption that all those who don’t like the flap for those below 10th believe Silverstone was somehow a special case. Odd that this special case didn’t gain traction before in relation to the FLAP. Particularly given its been been bought up a number of times in the debate about how far RB/Merc team orders go, with most defending the move as a legitimate strategy.

          3. @ian dearing

            Perez ran in the points and thus actually gave something up to get the FLAP, so it’s not the same as this situation, where Bottas gave up nothing, as he was doing so poorly.

          4. @aapje Ah right, so now its no one below 10th should be given FLAP, despite them gaining the fastest lap, unless special circumstances occur which will not be prescribed, and then only if the driver was once in the points, but is now not in the points, and the driver is considered not to be doing ‘poorly ‘. Driving around in a RB barely in the points and way off the pace is not considered in these circumstances to be ‘poorly’.

          5. @ian dearing

            Who are you arguing with?

          6. Like @Aapje said.
            In the light of one title contender taking extreme risks at the cost of his competitor the fact that the artificial fast lap point is a very minor issue, and that it got taken away from the main culprit is a minor vindication, if anything.

            Actually there were some who bemoaned the loss of that Silverstone point, blaming Red Bull for wasting Checo’s points finish and all. They were all Britons of course, go figure.

    3. I think Bottas already did, that’s why Verstappen needed to slow down a whopping 4 seconds to slow Bottas down. Bottas never expected that.

      1. Maybe, but obviously Valtteri can keep on dropping back where Max will at some point have to speed up or risk being overtaken by Lewis.

        1. I don’t if Bottas had that kind of room. If he then would be overtaken by another backmarker he’d have to find a good position again.

          1. With just 18 cars on track there must be a 4+ second gap somewhere behind someone who’s not a backmarker. Valtteri could have let as many cars by as he wished, it really did not matter anymore.

  7. Outside position 1 to 10 that point shouldn’t be available to score. Someone two laps behind the leader getting that point is awkward. So Botta’s could have parked his car after five laps, wait until three laps remaining and get that point with 56-57 laps behind the leader.😁

    1. Errr… It already isn’t available to score outside the top 10… But if someone outside the top 10 has fastest lap, no one will get the point at all.

    2. think you dont understood what happened. Bottas didnt get the extra point, only the top 10 can score a point if setting the fastest lap. Mercedes just took a point away from Max, nobody received that point in this race.

      1. Thanks, Doug. I was thinking that “they” had scrapped the “Top Ten” rule … now I see that VB getting Fast Lap simply prevents MV from getting it and, so, no points at all, for anyone. TV guys did not address that, IIRC.

  8. I am always fascinated when does gamesmanship cross the line. BOT trying to steal the fastest lap, when he cannot get a point for it, but then it is still put in the record books – and he might now hold the lap record for a while if the new generation cars take some time to catch up.
    Any driver deliberately driving slowly? This is not the first time of course, and if you build the gap, its up to you how you use it.
    I think in this case it was a great, but I wonder when does a line get crossed? E.g., going off track to cause a yellow flag while someone is trying a fastest lap in the race – too much? Stopping your car on track to cause a safety car in the last few laps when your team mate looks likely to get overtaken?

    1. José Lopes da Silva
      9th November 2021, 10:39

      …and suddenly you realize that this rule creates the kind of gimmick that pure fans usually dislike in Indycar and, supposedly, don’t want to see applied to Formula One.

      Although it’s another bit of legend from Verstappen’s racecraft. Maybe we do need this kind of gimmicks to bring the best out of the drivers.

    2. José Lopes da Silva
      9th November 2021, 10:41

      And yes, I think Hamilton did nothing wrong in Abu Dhabi 2016. It was up to Rosberg to overtake, if he could.
      It backfired because Vettel was not interested in helping Hamilton to get equal in titles with him.

      1. Sorry for replying to this again. But Vettel did no wrong in 2016 Abu Dhabi. It was genuinely dificult to overtake.

        Neither did Lewis do anything wrong in 2016 Abu Dhabi. But what he did was risky. Nico could have caused an accident any time and caused Lewis to lose the championship anyways

        1. José Lopes da Silva
          9th November 2021, 11:45

          Agreed. Vettel did nothing wrong in Abu Dhabi 2016, either way – it’s historically difficult to overtake there, and for long term competition reasons he didn’t have an interest in helping Hamilton.

          1. But the second part of your “argument” has nothing to do with the result then.

          2. José Lopes da Silva
            9th November 2021, 14:30

            @erikje of course not. It was a brilliant piece from Verstappen. Listen to the deep silence of those people claiming, through 7 seasons, that Max is immature, has no brain, can’t manage races, etc.

            My point is that people are complaining about the sprint “something” and the americanization of F1 by Liberty Media, but we already living in an age of gimmicks. The current qualifying system, for example, is designed to create repeatedly situations like the Tsunoda affair. And so is the point for the fastest lap.

      2. I’m pretty certain Vettel would have overtaken Rosberg if he could. He said after the race that Hamilton keeping Rosberg within DRS range made it impossible to even attempt it. Maybe if Hamilton had managed to back Rosberg up in some track sections, then pull out of DRS range before the straights then it could have worked better. But probably difficult or impossible to pull that off.

    3. We have had Crashgate in 2008. So I guess delibertly causing a yellow or red flag is beyond the line of acceptable.

      Slowing someone down should be acceptabel. “The secret”, said Niki Lauda, “is to win going as slowly as possible. The only example that I can remember was when Alonso got punished for slowing down Hamilton in the pits during qualifiying hungary 2007. I can’t think of any other example where someone got punished for driving to slow.

  9. Absolutely loved seeing this. That killer instinct you see in champions truly on display – seeing an opportunity and calculating risk vs reward in a split second, then executing it perfectly. Very very clever.

  10. I thought it was a really funny moment, but it also demonstrated once again that the point for fastest lap is a farce.

    1. Would it be less of a farce if all 20 (max) drivers would get a point.

      IMO the FLAP point is not the ‘farce’ as it is demonstratively the fastest lap around the circuit during the race, but the fact that drivers outside the top-10 have (often) no real incentive to gain/defend a place is a bit ‘farcical’.

  11. As many have said before, many are saying now and many will say in future… awarding a point for FLAP is a joke. There is no merit in it whatsoever.

    20 races please, each awarding 25 pts meaning a clean total of 500pts is on offer during a season. No gimmick points to give meaning to whatever new idea the powers that be come up with each given year.

    I know I’m dreamin’ but one can live in hope.

  12. Coventry Climax
    9th November 2021, 11:27

    Recently , F1 announced the intent to reduce the amount of tyres available to teams, meant to further reduce the climate footprint. I would like to see a pointssystem introduced, where using more tyres does not get you awarded as many points as when you had used less, finishing in the same position. That would give teams a further strategy option, as well as do away with these silly situations where teams just keep pitting one of their drivers, with the only aim of taking away the fastest lap bonus point from someone else. It would effectively nullify this flap bonus point, which is silly anyway, because the objective has never been setting a single fastest lap, it has always been to finish 1st, meaning an average fastest lap time.
    Given the current rules, I can understand why teams do it, but for me, it shouldn’t be part of motorracing.
    Same with the fuel; instead of prescribing a maximum at the start, and a minimum at the finish, if you really want to drive the teams to going green, than they should take into account the amount of fuel used for the race, regardless of how much was taken on board to start with, and regardless of in what part of the race the most was used.
    I can already hear the comments of my fellow fans here: “too difficult”. But no, given current sensor and computer technology, it’s actually quite easy to realise, as the fuel quantity used is just aggregating the -already measured- flow, and counting (tyres) is something already learned at the age of 4 or thereabouts.
    You could leave out the majority of the useless, usually at fault graphics on TV, to make room for these new, undeniable graphics. And in reply to a further anticipated ‘no’; tweak the pointssystem such that 1st place is always still 1st place. Then lastly, for the statistics lovers amongst us: whenever a new pointssystem is -or was, for that matter- introduced, it should exist alongside the old system. That’s what I did in an all time results database of mine. Easy, and makes for interesting comparisons, I can say.
    Sorry for the long read.

    1. So you’re suggesting bonus points for using less tyre sets. That would just encourage teams to prioritise single stop races more than they already do, ensuring less strategic variability across drivers and teams. Would you include free practice and qualifying in this too? Because then you will also get less running in practice and possibly qualifying. Bonus points for lower fuel consumption would also just encourage more underfuelling and more ‘lift and coast’, which I thought was something most fans were not in favour of.

      1. Coventry Climax
        10th November 2021, 14:21

        @keithedin :
        No. I suggest less points for the same position, but achieved using more tyresets. Yes, that means teams will try to do the same distance with less tyres, which is exactly what F1 is after anyway. But that’s why I said the system needs tweaking, a position further up the order should always still be worth more points than a lower position achieved with less tyres. So it’s still a trade-off decision for teams to make, like it’s always been.
        Where fuel is concerned, there too the consensus is to use no more than necessary. No difference there either, as I clearly remember cars not making it to the finish due to lack of fuel, for the simple reason they wanted to save on weight during the race. Currently however, F1 rigidly mandates fuel saving through having a max fuel load and a max fuel flow, which, together with the mandatory hybrid power plant, is the actual reason for lift and coast. Too me, those mandatory regulations take away the incentive to search for other technical solutions from the teams. To me however, it’s the teams that should decide on what fuel to use and how much when and where. So, to create the incentive to use less, the total fuel usage (even better: total energy when fuel choice is free too) might be taken into account.
        I’d like to see technological choice return to the teams. Who’d have thought, a couple years back, that a diesel engine would become the dominant way to win LeMans? If fuel choice had been restricted by the organisation, that would never have happened. (Diesel by the way, is by nature of the process the least environmentally friendly, but that is not something that was taken into account at that time.)
        So how many points should you loose or gain with all this? I don’t know. You seem to assume I suggest ‘many’, which is not the case. Is the current flap point decisive in the championship? Might be, but not necessarily so. So it all depends on the tweaking of this system, but -and exactly like what F1 is already after anyway- it should create an incentive yet leave the technical choices to the teams. Stupidly enough though, the FIA mandates another increase in car weight, thus achieving the exact opposite. F1 also mandates a more and more uniform technology, even allowing copy/paste for cardesign.
        What makes me loose my interest in F1 over the last couple of years, is that F1 is fast growing towards a spec series, and puts the show over the sport and technology. To me, it was always about clever solutions (technology) and the sport.

  13. Imagine going seconds slower than your normal pace and slowing down the opposition to further your cause for a world title and the community doesn’t berate you. That must feel weird, hey Lewis.

    1. There is a perfectly good reason why its impressive and deserves credit to slow a competitor down to retain a FLAP point, but completely unacceptable why it should be done to win a WDC at the last race of the season.

      Not sure what that reason is, but I’m sure someone has the answer.

      1. Personally I didn’t berate LH for his slow pace in 2016. It was all he could do really, and I believe the possibility of it happening was talked about ahead of the race. I just enjoyed watching it not working for him.

        With Max it was a sudden spur of the moment decision simply due to how the circumstances of the race played out particularly for VB. Nobody could have possibly predicted this would happen ahead of the race. Ultimately it didn’t work for Max either, other than initially.

        Fair play in both scenarios.

  14. While amusing to a degree and certainly a showcase of Verstappen’s racecraft, and both team’s strategic habilities, from my point of view it’s just ridiculous what the fastest lap bonus point has become.

    I never liked it, gives nothing of value to the race, and now we’re got to the point that the two fastest teams have such a buffer to the rest of the field that they just play with it.

    They said it’d create better racing but it never, ever has. I don’t think of this as good racing at all, just another gimmick.

    1. Super Max is the Best Driver of the era. Years back over the radio he even knew Ferrari was on pit stop. Critical thinking, calm and confidence.

  15. So much talk about the double points decider and nobody cares that the championship can be decided on fastest laps. 23 dumb points available.

    1. I think it generally, in a fight like this year, gives a chance of damage limitation for the driver who lost the battle, if hamilton wins with verstappen 2nd there’s a big chance verstappen can pit for flap and lose 6 instead of 7 points without the flap rule, and that also goes viceversa when their team mates aren’t particularly fast, which means now a technical dnf can cost you more than 4 races worth of points gaining, while before it was a bit less.

    2. It was more like 3,5 races lost through a dnf before.

  16. Oh, the mandatory team radio transcript article… 🥱

  17. At least Merc tried this when BOT was out of the points instead of RB who pitted perez at Silverstone costing him points proving that RB is 100% behind Max and number 2 is the useless wingman used to draw in the latino audience

    1. And your point is, that Bottas is no wingman?
      LOL

  18. This whole silly episode could have been avoided had MB released Bottas either well behind or well ahead of Verstappen. They had the time to do it.

  19. That incident was hilarious as Bottas could overtake Verstappen and Verstappen would leave the track to avoid contact ;-)

Comments are closed.