Verstappen defends his style: “It’s pure and hard racing”

The piloting masterclass was offered by Max Verstappen (Red Bull) this Sunday June 30 at the Red Bull Ring.

Verstappen crosses the line -

">The Dutchman won the Austrian Grand Prix for the second time in a row, at the end of a meteoric rise at the end of the event.

When the lights went out, the 21-year-old driver made a mistake and fell to a worrying seventh place. “At that moment I thought my race was over, he admits. I had to push hard to catch up. I had a flat on the front tires during my first stint. »

The machine almost failed for the wearer of number 33. In fact, an engine failure occurred shortly after halfway through the race. Fortunately, the engineer told Max Verstappen that he could use 100% of the Honda unit's power a few minutes later.

Good luck to him. On the 50th lap, he overtook a clever Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) in his role as defender. Then, he made short work of Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) on the 56th lap. From then on, he strove to reduce the gap of five seconds which separated him from leader Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).

The two young drivers engaged in a hell of a duel, before the already famous attack on the 69th lap, where the Ferrari and the Red Bull touched each other.

The maneuver is placed under investigation by the commissioners, who will study the incident at 18 p.m. “It’s pure and hard racing, otherwise you might as well stay at home, Max Verstappen justifies himself. If this kind of thing is no longer tolerated in competition, what is the reason for being in F1 ?

“This is what we should accept and This is what fans want to see. For me, it was completely normal. If anything comes out of this investigation, I will not be happy about it. We will then have to see if we really like this sport or not. (addressing the commissioners. Editor’s note). »