Max Verstappen and Lando Norris may be glad that there’s another Grand Prix this weekend at Silverstone given the level of scrutiny on the event that ruined both of their races in Austria.
The stewards at the Austrian Grand Prix sided with Martin Brundle on commentary who believed that Max Verstappen was at fault for their clash at turn three.
That won’t be much consolation to Lando Norris who was hoping to guide his McLaren to a second victory of the season following a disappointing Sprint Race where he lost out to Verstappen and teammate Oscar Piastri.
The nature of motorsport meant that despite both cars suffering punctures, Verstappen was able to guide his Red Bull back to the pits quicker, change his tyres and still come back out in 5 place.
However, Norris wasn’t so lucky and his race was ended once he reached the McLaren pit box, his tyre having been completely ripped to shreds and doing significant damage to the bodywork of the car.
He also missed out on scoring any points and Verstappen managed to extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship, with his ten-second penalty meaningless in the grand scheme of the race.
Damon Hill wasn’t part of the coverage for Sky Sports F1 but took to Instagram to share his verdict on the incident.
It’s safe to say that he won’t be arguing with Brundle’s view of the incident any time soon.
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Damon Hill shares his verdict on Max Verstappen vs Lando Norris clash at the Austrian Grand Prix
Hill, reacting to a video of the incident between Verstappen and Norris said: “It’s pretty clear,” insinuating that Verstappen was definitely at fault.
If he hadn’t made it clear enough how he felt, he followed his post up with another story that referred to the decision to award Norris Driver of the Day which he believed was, “Quite right.”
The crash was the talk of the paddock after the race with eventual winner George Russell immediately reacting to the collision in the cooldown room alongside Carlos Sainz and Piastri.
Unsurprisingly, the one person with a differing opinion on what happened was Red Bull chief Christian Horner.
He alluded to the track limit violations that Norris had accumulated up to that point in the race.
And while Norris had gone off the track when bombing down the inside of Verstappen earlier in the race, he had given the place back on the next straight.
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McLaren have a very fast now although it’s very difficult to tell whether or not they’re faster than Red Bull at this stage.
The huge gap between Verstappen and Sergio Perez appears to be growing and the Dutchman looked comfortable in the lead of the race before Red Bull’s mistake in the pit lane.
However, Verstappen’s driving style and the way he approaches defensive driving makes life so difficult for other drivers as he’s unrelenting in any battle.
Norris on several different occasions suggested that Verstappen was changing his line under braking, something Brundle agreed with on Sky Sports F1 commentary.
However, the stewards never penalised the Dutchman for this and it would have been interesting to see how that would have played out had he not been for the collision that ended their skirmish.
It’s up to Norris now to work out his best approach as he will inevitably come up against Verstappen again this season.
He mustn’t be drawn into altering his tactics compared to Sunday’s race, where he was unfortunate to pick up race-ending damage when trying to keep out of the way.
The post ‘It’s pretty clear’: Damon Hill gives his verdict on Max Verstappen's penalty at the Austrian Grand Prix appeared first on F1 Oversteer.
