Formula One

Good win for Max today. Good to be back at Monaco, apart from Silverstone it's the only other Grand Prix I have been to.

David

Perhaps yesterday's GP in Baku illustrated why Red Bull decided on Sergio Perez as a partner to Max Verstappen as he wasn't going to be intimidated by the likes of Lewis Hamilton?  I quite like the Baku circuit as its got both long straights and narrow twisty bits. Clearly a problem with tyres which Pirelli will have to sort. Poor old Bottas seems to have lost his mojo since the pit lane incident in the last GP?

David

From yesterday's qualifying it is clear that the Silver Arrows dominance is no longer there.

Plus also a few duff strategy calls of late? It does seem that Red Bull have become more competitive and with Perez on the podium for the second race running it could be an interesting championship. 

David

Tough call for one or two stops though. Carving through back markers has its own hazards. It was just the last few laps that it became evident that Lewis wasn't going to hold on to the lead.

It will be a very poor show if Hamilton wins the championship on the back of the collision he was blamed for yesterday.

peedee

And a pretty minor punishment as well for such a serious incident. Max was struggling a bit as he got out of the crashed car. Personally I think it was a deliberate act. There was no way he was fully  "alongside" Max, if he was how come his front left went into the rear right of Max's car? 

If you watched the slow mo he was halfway alongside on the approach to the corner but he was off the racing line which Max had. I gather H was at fault because he would never have made the apex of the bend and he had plenty of room on his inside to move over. Agree it was not a harsh enough penalty. I wonder what would have happened if Le Clerc had kept his line like Max?

peedee

Yeah, not good.

I've always been a staunch LH supporter (met him and had a chat at Goodwood in 2009) but I've got to say that was a pretty desperate launch on the inside of Copse (the fastest corner on the 2021 calendar). Drivers cornering at 160 mph+ know and respect that corner. It would never end well whoever made that move. Leclerc backed out for his own safety I think, knowing what happened earlier. Doesn't bode well for the sport at all. The end celebrations all looked good for the fans but for me it marred the weekend

JK

Well i have a different opinion. I think Lewis had every right to attempt an overtake move, as far as I am aware there are no corners on any circuit where overtaking is against the rule and regulations. Yes Lewis had a little room on the inside but Verstappen had more than 2 car widths on the outside and could have easily avoided colliding with Lewis.

I watched the race on Sky Sports and after the race they showed several clips of other races where Verstappen made overly aggressive overtaking manoeuvres and Lewis backed out to avoid a collision. This time Lewis held is ground and refused to back out just as Verstappen did. A lot of people, including Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso thought the penalty was unnecessary and that it was a racing incident, and they are far more qualified than anybody commenting on here.

I have a lot of respect for Christian Horner, but i think he let himself down badly with his comments after the race, lets hope the comments were made in the “heat of the moment” and he will have calmed down by the next race.

My concern is that Verstappen will revert to his old racing ways and be reckless in the next few races causing more collisions, lets hope he sees sense and drives respectfully.