Did Max Verstappen cross the red line in Jeddah?

Facts : The 37th lap of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix saw an incredible scene occur on track between the two leaders of the race and the championship. Forced by his team to return the position to Lewis Hamilton after a controversial defense at the first corner, Max Verstappen executed as best he could. Uninformed and suspicious of the Dutchman's maneuver, the Briton hesitated and hit the rear of the Red Bull. Hamilton finally won to return to a tie for the championship and Verstappen was pinned down by the race stewards. So, has Max Verstappen crossed the red line?

YES, by Valentin Glo 

Max Verstappen has been known to be a borderline driver on track since his early debut at Toro Rosso, but how can it be defended after this weekend in Jeddah? He is an extraordinary driver, perhaps even world champion within a week, but his last outing leaves a bitter taste as his behavior on the track was execrable. The problem is that the Dutchman has decided that he can do what he wants on the track, ignoring all regulations and all gentleman's agreements. The Red Bull driver believes that no one has the right to overtake him on the track and that he has the right to do it as he wishes, without worrying about the consequences, seeking contact at every opportunity. If the clashes between the two best enemies of this season have not been more numerous, it is only because Lewis Hamilton is trying as hard as possible to avoid entering into the unhealthy game of the Batavian. This aggressive style has reached its peak for several weeks with unconscious defenses and offensives.

After all, if he goes out with the Briton he will be the big winner. Maybe he doesn't care, maybe he thinks the world crown will make people forget the manner, but do we really want to see the title played out like this? This season is a masterpiece and it takes two to tango. It was also because Verstappen managed to contain his madness by dominating his old demons, minimizing mistakes and getting the most out of his Honda engine. Does the seven-time world champion's rapid return as he approaches the finish line make him lose control, despite his so-called imperviousness to pressure? “It’s not Formula 1 » railed the championship leader after the checkered flag in Jeddah. What he did on Sunday on the Saudi coast was certainly not. On the penultimate round of the season, Max reaped what he had sown all season by playing with fire.

Max Verstappen tried everything to stay ahead of Lewis Hamilton. ©DPPI

NO, by Romain Bernard

As a preamble, I think that to judge, you must have worn your suits in racing cars to measure what driving a racing car requires in terms of mental and physical commitment. It must be total, without modulation. Anyone who rides backwards in a carbon bathtub launched at 300 km/h must change careers. Ditto if he aims to open the doors or lack teeth. Personally, I will not comment on the exchanges of kickers in a scrum of rugby players (prohibited but tolerated) or the roughness of certain hard tackles in football (which is the charm of the English championship, by the way). I limit myself to the sportsmanship and the quality of the show.

In this scenario, there is nothing to blame Max Verstappen as long as we rewind the history of our sport. There has never been romanticism in motorsport, simply a selfish relationship to danger, life and death. The selective amnesia of certain critical minds makes them forget the very relative notion of fair play in Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Michael Schumacher or others. The dual Arnoux-Villeneuve in Dijon in 1979 remains the most beautiful in history, and yet in the space of two laps, the drivers Renault et Ferrari rubbed more than in the space of a season between Hamilton and Verstappen. Let us congratulate ourselves, on the contrary, for being the contemporaries of a young “anarchist” allergic to any form of reverence towards the greatest F1 driver in history. Hamilton acted in exactly the same way with Alonso in 2007, and yet they were teammates at McLaren. Our sport is rough, incredibly complex, and requires decisions to be made to the thousandth of a second. In short, to err is human, like everywhere. Verstappen is the greatest gift Hamilton could have dreamed of in his career, an opponent worthy of him. For gifts, we will wait for Santa Claus…