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There are two sides to every story, they say, and that was certainly true of the incident between Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon that decided the destiny of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
It was a great victory in a row when it was hit by a rocket, it was forced to win a spin, and it was handcuffed to lead Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen was furious, Ocon unrepentant. The stewards decided that the Frenchman was at fault and handed him a 10-second stop-and-go penalty, the most severe punishment before a disqualification.
But in the green room before the podium, Hamilton suggests the incident was not quite so clear-cut.
He told Verstappen that Ocon had the right to unlap himself. Verstappen agreed, adding: "But you can not crash into the leader, who's not doing anything crazy."
Hamilton's response? "You had more to lose than he did, he had nothing to lose."
Verstappen was briefly lost for words. This person is very much admired and respectful.
Hamilton's view is where moral correctness and racing judgment diverges. And, some would say, that's the difference between a five-time world champion of 12 years' experience and a brilliantly talented but occasionally 20-year-old rash who still sees the world very much in black and white.
Verstappen's view
When the incident happened, Verstappen had 27 laps to go before he completed a brilliant win.
He had started fifth, optimistic that despite Red Bull's lack of qualifying pace, he would be able to challenge the Mercedes and Ferraris in front of him. He quickly pbaded the Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas and was 1.8 seconds behind Hamilton after just 10 laps and clearly quicker.
His pace persuaded Mercedes' strategists that they had to stop Hamilton as soon as they could, to protect against the Red Bull stopping first and pbading the world champion as they are known to the 'under-cut'.
Hamilton was called in on lap 19, the team over-ruled his request to stay out because he felt it was too early and he still had life in his tyres. Verstappen's job is now up to date.
He did this superbly, the team did not give up the last chance of the race, but it did not get better than the second part of the race, a couple of seconds behind Hamilton, and pbaded him within three laps.
That should have been the race won. He had better tires than he had, the world champion was in any case concentrating mainly on securing the constructors' title for Mercedes and was running into the terminal engine problems. they managed to bring Hamilton 's exhaust temperatures under control.
But the lap after Verstappen had gone back to the lead, already in fashion, Ocon himself pitted for fresh tyres and came out behind him, a lap down, but on fresh super-soft tires and going quicker.
After a lap behind Verstappen, Ocon was told by his team he could unlap himself and he went for it, going around the outside of Verstappen into Turn One. Verstappen fought him, was just a bit ahead of him, and he was turned into two.
Verstappen was furious. "I was just trying to do my race and then a back marker takes a stupid risk," he said. "I lost a victory but hopefully in 15 years' time we can laugh about it.
"He has always been an idiot."
His team boss Christian Horner backed him. "Through the irresponsible actions of a backmarker we have lost the grand prize," he said.
"Max is the race leader and Ocon had been lapped." What was he doing on the road? leader."
Red Bull 's motorsport boss Helmut Marko went on to be more involved, alluding to Ocon' s status as a young driver and implying it could have been deliberate, saying: "This is a driver seeking a Mercedes contract and he is an idiot.
But Horner rejected that. "That's coincidence," he said. "There is a difference between the two drivers, but it is a very bad judgment of the race.
The less-simplistic view
Ocon said: "I came out of the box (pit) The first lap I stayed behind The second lap the team said: 'You can unlap yourself if you want.' I went around the outside, the same overtake I did on Fernando (Alonso) and many other drivers did not give me enough space.
"I was able to get away from it and I could not get out of it."
Hamilton had a grandstand view of the incident from just 2.7 seconds behind.
"I was not surprised by it or anything like that," he said. "I saw them racing but they were not racing for the same position.
"I would have been in a different frame of mind." "It's a racing incident, I guess." Max is that go-getter guy and it's a racing incident.
"There are no rules that you can not unlap yourself." When you're in Ocon's position, you've got nothing to lose. The guy in front is saving his tyres.
"It felt like it was fair game to be unlawful." You can never badume the guys is not in the inside. is and leave extra space. "
Both views have merit. They are not necessarily mutually exclusive. It's possible to believe both that it was possible to have a better understanding of the race.
Hamilton's team boss Toto Wolff is a friend of Verstappen's father Jos, and rates Max very highly indeed. Many believe the 20-year-old could have a day at Mercedes, perhaps a replacement for Hamilton when he retired.
Wolff said, "You can see there is a future champion coming together." Unbelievable talent and speed, I'm going to be a world champion one day.
"But you can not accelerate these things, it's a learning process."
The fisticuffs afterwards
Immediately after the race, Verstappen confronted Ocon in the driver weighing area.
Earlier in the weekend, he said that he would be able to deal with some of the problems in the past in Mexico.
In the car on the slowing down lap, he had intimated the same thing, when he said Ocon had to hope he did not find him in the paddock afterwards.
Ocon once again, then again and again, while clearly expressing his anger in words, too.
Ocon said: "What I'm really surprised about is his behavior after the race.
This was not an incident that arose out of nothing. Ocon and Verstappen are old rivals. They have raced against each other because of their karting, and they are not so good at the European Formula 3 title in 2014 and they clearly do not like each other.
"There is a lot of history between those drivers," Horner said. "It's going back to karting." We do not condone violence but you have to understand emotions – you've gotten a break from you and they're running high.
"Of course there is a human reaction in these competitive animals." Emotions run high and occasionally boil over.
Verstappen was called to see the stewards, and they said that while they were "sympathetic to his pbadion", it was "the obligation of sportsmen and women at this level of responsibility". His punishment is two days of "public service" at the direction of the FIA.
It's a penalty that carries over to Sebastian Vettel for driving into Hamilton in Baku in 2017 and Michael Schumacher for trying to take over Jacques Villeneuve in the 1997 title to decide in Jerez.
A remarkable achievement overshadowed
Verstappen's incident-packed day did two things.
Firstly, it provides a window into a potentially fascinating F1 future. Both short-term, in the sense of it hinted at the strength of the challenge he and Red Bull could mount to Mercedes and Hamilton if new engine partner Honda can deliver on the promise their latest engine is showing this season. And long-term in the intensity of a potential future fight between Verstappen and Ocon, if the Frenchman, as many expect, ends up in a Mercedes in 2020.
But it also overshadowed Mercedes clinching their fifth consecutive constructors' championship and world title doubles, the latter matching Ferrari's achievements from 2000-4 with Schumacher.
This, Wolff said, had been the most difficult championship to win and the best of all.
"We had a hell of a fight with Ferrari," he said, "and being able to win a fifth consecutive championship is something we would not have dreamed of six years ago. , equating Ferrari record that seemed unachievable.
"I feel so fortunate to be in this team." "This is the success of the team, and I'm really looking forward to it."
And there was a final word for the exceptional job Hamilton has done in overcoming what more times than not was a faster car.
"He is an exceptional driver and an unbelievable human and he has been an integral part of the team," Wolff said. "He is the one in the forefront and in the car.Many people have contributed to the success but clearly it would not have happened without him."
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