Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is in the spotlight for another instance of aggressive blocking, which ex-F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve believes is being condoned by the FIA and warns that the tactics could have tragic consequences.
Verstappen once clashed Kimi Raikkonen again, this time during the Belgian Grand Prix while the pair battled for position towards Les Combs, the Dutch teenager blocked the veteran Finn very late and forced the Ferrari driver off track.
The move provoked heated debate which has divided the Formula 1 paddock.
Villeneuve, who never pulls his punches, has a theory, “The issue is the FIA, because it looks like he’s got protection, they want him to be a start.”
“In Germany, he weaved on the straight, so Nico [Rosberg] missed his braking [point]. They go a bit wide – Nico gets a penalty. And it wasn’t even his fault.”
“So there is something that is wrong. I don’t know. It’s something that makes me angry, but that’s just the way it is. Twenty years ago someone would have put him in a tree.”
Villeneuve, who was never shy to go toe-to-toe with the best of his era including Michael Schumacher, is not impressed with Verstappen’s tactics.
“It’s way too much,” said the 1997 Formula 1 World Champion. “The start is racing. It’s too much, but it’s racing. Because every expert driver knows that if you go to the inside there will be an incident, because there is not enough room.”
“Mostly if you had a bad start, just accept it. But that is not what’s bad. It’s after that, he complains about other drivers: They destroyed my race.”
“Relax, relax. You know you took a big risk and it did not pay off. You destroyed their race and you destroyed your own race. That’s fine. That’s life.
“But what he did afterwards that’s not acceptable. What he did to Kimi twice on the straight, and to Vettel as well. Just calm down or you’re going to kill someone. You need to have just a little bit of respect. Because you all live in this little thing together.”
“Drivers should have respect among each other. Good, hard, fair racing, like Kimi said. You know, racing hard is great. But have some respect.”
“You can’t just push people off. Or make them have to brake on the straight. That’s super, super, super dangerous. Twenty years ago drivers fixed it among themselves,” added Villeneuve.
No comments:
Post a Comment