2016 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand PrixFormula 1 

Well to be fair, Ferrari and Redbull did do their best to help him....

Alonso is driver of the day for me. Last on the grid and held on to 7th with less car under him than those behind him.

I agree I would either give it to him or Lewis or DR, they all benefited in the end from the red flag, but they all drove quite well compared to others. Though I think the McLaren isn't that weak, I just don't think it's been consistent enough for us to believe it as a decent car.


Also I have say about Max, this just seems to be a continuation from the last thread, I feel Max does a subtle amount to stay in the clear. I think when you miss a corner to block a driver from passing you and nearly cause a wreck with them, that's bad. Then you do what caused a wreck with that same driver in the prior race, moving last minute a la Schumacher
 
Cq86XZGWEAEunBX.jpg:large

Oh-god-why.sh-600x600.png
 
I think it's time for the FIA to start reeling in Verstappens driving before something happens.

Also pushing a driver off the track and not making the track limit yourself is a complete joke, yet the Stewards still thought he was right to keep his position.

Yeah I'm confused by it to, I still think their is some favoritism going on for the show and how many perceive him despite the stewards trading off every race. It's still the same small group of them and I'm sure they have a guide line on how they see these things.
 
It was a good race, but Verstappen Maldonado'ing everyone in his way kinda soured me on it. With Maldonado you could at least tell it was more incompetence than anything though, Verstappen seems doing this stuff very much on purpose and he also doesn't seem to care if it's a high speed crash resulting from his little "tricks".

I don't see this ending well, FIA should do something about it, but probably won't.
 
Last edited:
Verstappen is soon going to cause a huge accident with his movements unless someone, either the team or the FIA, instructs him against it. He's been lucky so far that he's pulled the moves against veterans quick and skilled enough to react to it, someone else is going to hit him. I thought his start move at T1 was borderline but the movement in front of Raikkonen is not on, you can't do that.
 
Turn 1 was completely Vettel's fault. Yes Verstappen played it risky going to the inside but the two Ferraris knew he was there and there was PLENTY of room to go three wide there.

Other than that yea he was a bit testy today. Like Steve Matchett said, I put it down to nerves from being at his home race and he's only 18 (remember that) and everything else all coming together. It's tough. By the end of the race though his composure had settled and he was driving a lot better.
 
Other than that yea he was a bit testy today. Like Steve Matchett said, I put it down to nerves from being at his home race and he's only 18 (remember that) and everything else all coming together. It's tough. By the end of the race though his composure had settled and he was driving a lot better.

On Dutch TV Max said that because they ruined his race in turn 1, apart from the wing he also had damage underneath the car, he tried to make their races as miserable as possible.
 
So he's admitting to be a spoiled brat who doesn't care if he kills someone on the race track? Because that was what it looked like he was trying to do and it's insane the FIA let him do it. Safety my 🤬
 
On Dutch TV Max said that because they ruined his race in turn 1, apart from the wing he also had damage underneath the car, he tried to make their races as miserable as possible.

Seriously? That is a scary attitude to be taking to a race track. Yes he's young but he needs to get rid of that mindset. You can't drive with vendettas or agendas on the race track at 200mph.
 
That's really bad. Definitely gonna get a word from the PR people at Red Bull so he doesn't say something like that again. He can do that, but don't make it public like that.
 
He can do that

He really can't. You are driving a 200mph potentially lethal weapon, you have to drive with a level head or you're going to kill yourself or someone else. This is not a video game, you can't go around with retribution and vengeance on your mind.
 
Last edited:
I'm not saying it's right, and I agree it's wrong to do. But are you really gonna say no driver ever has that train of thought? He said he was going to make their races "miserable", not "I'm going to crash them out". He was overly defensive. Something you might see happen from other circumstances. In this case it was due to an earlier incident and that adds to the "revenge" aspect you perceive. I don't think he was getting revenge in a malicious way. He was just overly defensive from that point on.
 
So by now everybody knows Max pulls off these tricks and still they fall for it. Kimi should've known it was going to be like that, you can easily trick Max into doing what he did and go around him on the outside.
 
I'm not saying it's right, and I agree it's wrong to do. But are you really gonna say no driver ever has that train of thought? He said he was going to make their races "miserable", not "I'm going to crash them out". He was overly defensive. Something you might see happen from other circumstances. In this case it was due to an earlier incident and that adds to the "revenge" aspect you perceive. I don't think he was getting revenge in a malicious way. He was just overly defensive from that point on.

Other drivers have purposely crashed into others, doesn't change the point that it needs to be removed from his mind before it's too late.

So by now everybody knows Max pulls off these tricks and still they fall for it. Kimi should've known it was going to be like that, you can easily trick Max into doing what he did and go around him on the outside.

First of all that doesn't make his 'tricks' acceptable. Secondly, how exactly are they supposed to know he won't have a new 'trick'? If Kimi went to his right then jinked back left, how does he know Max wouldn't also jink back? Drivers expect respect and for other drivers to follow both the written and unwritten rules of racing.
 
In this particular case I don't think "making their races as miserable as possible" necessarily means causing a 200mph collision. I think it meant more along the lines of frustrating the driver behind him or even blocking him. Max Verstappen wouldn't be the first driver to have tried to do that and he won't be the last.

That's what he meant in my opinion. What he did was different. Today was probably the biggest demonstration of his inexperience. When he burst through in Spain everybody was raving about him and now that the hype has died down somewhat, he can get back to working on his racecraft and he clearly needs some mentoring with not letting pressure or aggression affecting his composure. He's still clearly one of the best young drivers about and I hope he is able to balance his fanatical attacks with more tactful defending in the future.

As for the rest of the race... Rosberg will be glad to be back on the top step of the podium but it must be frustrating for him to see Hamilton only two places behind and still in the championship lead. And frustrating for all the other drivers as someone who started 21st secured an easy finish inside the top 5 only highlights how dominant the Mercedes is.
 
http://www.f1technical.net/news/20986
"I think something is not right here", Raikkonen said after the race.

"I chose the right side, and then when he realised, he moved right as well. I had to brake at high speed to avoid an accident. I've never experienced this with any other driver, so I think this is not right. But apparently it doesn't matter".

Verstappen returned the favour, rejecting any blame, and instead making it look like revenge.

"The Ferrari's ruined my race in the first corner. Then I will not let them past. I'd prefer to run them off the track instead. Let them rage over the team radio, it's fun the people at home in front of the television".

If this quote is accurate he should be banned from racing for some time.
 
On Dutch TV Max said that because they ruined his race in turn 1, apart from the wing he also had damage underneath the car, he tried to make their races as miserable as possible.
I wish I had posted this at the time, but I was certain that this was the case during the race.

This is both staggering and disgraceful, and Verstappen may have landed himself in serious trouble for admitting to it, esp. once the video evidence is reviewed. Verstappen is a tremendous talent, but his precociousness and immaturity are still very evident and he needs to start reining in that growing ego and entitled behaviour.
 
In this particular case I don't think "making their races as miserable as possible" necessarily means causing a 200mph collision. I think it meant more along the lines of frustrating the driver behind him or even blocking him. Max Verstappen wouldn't be the first driver to have tried to do that and he won't be the last.

That's what he meant in my opinion. What he did was different. Today was probably the biggest demonstration of his inexperience. When he burst through in Spain everybody was raving about him and now that the hype has died down somewhat, he can get back to working on his racecraft and he clearly needs some mentoring with not letting pressure or aggression affecting his composure. He's still clearly one of the best young drivers about and I hope he is able to balance his fanatical attacks with more tactful defending in the future.

As for the rest of the race... Rosberg will be glad to be back on the top step of the podium but it must be frustrating for him to see Hamilton only two places behind and still in the championship lead. And frustrating for all the other drivers as someone who started 21st secured an easy finish inside the top 5 only highlights how dominant the Mercedes is.

It seems whenever Hamilton has to start way back something happens and within 10 laps he ends up where he would have been had he qualified normally.
 
Vettel suggests he/other drivers are going to have a talk with him.


Raikkonen's team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who had his own on-the-edge tussle with Verstappen during the race, said he would try to "educate" the Red Bull driver.

"I am not a fan of penalising people," the four-time world champion said. "We need talk to each other and have respect.

"There have been a couple of manoeuvres that the rest of the field is not happy with his behaviour.

"The best way to educate is just to talk rather than create a fuss in the media. We are men."

Question is of course whether he cares to listen or not.
 
Max is quickly going to fall out of favor if he carries on like this. Unbelievable talent but you can't go around saying stuff like that and not expect any comeback. Needs to sort his defending out as well.
 
Vettel suggests he/other drivers are going to have a talk with him.




Question is of course whether he cares to listen or not.

Let's hope he does clean up his act because he is one hell of a driver and he has a very bright future if he grows up.
 
Back