The missed star F1 performance obscured by Verstappen's Spanish GP antics
While all the headlines were taken by Max Verstappen’s clash with George Russell, to the point even McLaren’s 1-2 was overshadowed at the Spanish Grand Prix, there was a starring role from a midfield fighter who delivered Sauber’s best result in over three years
Let's clear something up, before we move onto a slightly more salubrious topic.
I don't want to linger too much on the Max Verstappen incident here; when I filed my 200 words on whether I believed he should be disqualified, I still felt that there was enough reasonable doubt in the incident. Data traces show us a lot more than we see on TV but, occasionally, interpreting them isn't too dissimilar to a Rorschach test - were both drivers travelling at the same speed, a late throttle trace would be a smoking gun but, when Verstappen was over 50km/h down on Russell at that point, you can make the argument that he was simply trying to reach the corner at the same velocity - if that makes sense.
In any case, Verstappen pretty much said he did do it, which renders that point of view moot. The regulations do not allow for a retroactive disqualification, but I do believe that the FIA should add an extra penalty point for misconduct and bench him for Montreal. Circumstantial evidence is, well, circumstantial - a confession is a confession. Can we move on now?
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