CGX car nut:

In your world, he should have driven off the track and conceded position to Hamilton!?!   Because, that’s exactly what LEC did.  

 

This is what? The 3rd time they came together at the start? At Mozna and the Spanish GP, Max basically drove into Lewis and had Lewis not backed off and drove off the track, they would have collided both times. Care to apply that same logic to those two incidents?

Seems to recalled both were classified as 'racing'. 

Entering the corner, Lewis was ahead on the inside line, Max pulled ahead as he has the faster outside line. Mid corner Max tried to shut the door on Lewis by turning into him, they touched and Max went off. All season long that was deemed worthy of a penalty and hence Lewis got the 10 second. Not the first time Lewis had gotten that penalty, he got one for contact with Albon last year at Austria. With the heavy fuel load and tires not up to temp, he understeer to the middle at the same time Max shut the door, that's how the contact was made. The same call was also made yesterday against Russell. 

Max has all the space on the outside and run off, he didn't have to take that chance for a collision. In his mind, since Lewis was backing off every time, he was expecting Lewis to do the same, this time he didn't. The outside line can work, see Albon vs Kimi last year, and doesn't have to go off track. 

Leclerc was different case. Lewis was lapping close to a second faster a lap, he stood no chance of defending. Once Lewis made the move, he isn't going to risk 18 points and hence gave Lewis a really wide berth. 

Max could have taken a wider line around the corner, but in doing so he would have conceded the place to Lewis, hence why he didn't. But even if Lewis had gotten ahead cleanly, the race still isn't over as I believe Max could have reeled him in or do a undercut to pass as the GP was just started. 

Ever since Max got here, he was known as the aggressive driver, borderline dangerous, with all his moves under braking before. He matured quite a bit and stop doing those, but weaving on the straights is still there. In contrast with Lewis, for over a decade, Lewis was never known as a dangerous one, nor aggressive one. He just just that much faster and all his defences are clean one move ones. His passing are all clean too, save for a few last couple years with the contacts. 

One could say Max is the more entertaining one to watch, he is aggressive and takes lots of chances. There was never a dull moment. Lewis was the more clinical one, boring so to speak, but that's one reason why he has 7 WCs. He sees the big picture, winning the season war, instead of a corner battle. 

The old saying about can't win a race in the first lap, but certainly can lose it on the first lap, is very very true. 

 

 


--