Verstappen was right to let Hamilton pass him for the lead

Red Bull team manager Christian Horner defended Max Verstappen’s decision to let Lewis Hamilton pass him in the final laps of the Bahrain Grand Prix – even though it cost him the victory.

Verstappen passed Hamilton for the lead with three laps to go. But he crossed the white line off the track like he did, and race control told Red Bull he had to give way to Hamilton.

“We received an instruction from the clerk of the course to return the place immediately,” confirmed Horner. “Max was very athletic and did it. It was frustrating, and Lewis had just enough to hold his position until the end of the race.

Verstappen told the team on the radio that they should have stayed ahead of Hamilton. He thought he could have taken a five-second lead over the Mercedes driver in the remaining laps, which would be enough to ensure that a five-second penalty didn’t cost him the win.

However, Horner pointed out that race control could have imposed a more severe penalty and that Verstappen might not have been able to get enough lead.

“There’s no guarantee we could have gotten the five seconds if that had been the penalty,” said Horner. “So he did the right thing.”

The control of the track limits at turn four was a point of contention throughout the race. The drivers were told on Friday that they would not be able to use the entire run-off in qualifying, but would be allowed to do so during the race.

Announcement | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

This caused some confusion for Red Bull, who at one point told Verstappen to exploit the clearance area more at turn four. “Lewis and Valtteri [Bottas] using the exit at the fourth corner, so feel free to do the same until we’re told not to, ”he told her. “Yeah how is that legal, man?” he has answered. “All weekend we couldn’t do it.”

“We could see as soon as Mercedes started pushing, they just used that part of the track,” said Horner. “We wondered about the control of the race: if it is, can we do it? Because when you’re in a close battle, there’s a two-tenths advantage using this part of the circuit. So they did it round after round. The race director then asked them to respect the limits, otherwise they would get a black and white flag. [for unsportsmanlike conduct]. “

The pilots had been told they would not be allowed to hold positions gained by overshooting beyond the track limits at turn four, Horner said.

“Obviously Max went wide on the pass there which was made clear before the race that if anyone had an advantage going out there they would have to give it back. And he did it immediately and the team asked him to do it after race control told us about it.

Horner said controlling the race needs to be more consistent with his advice to drivers on the limits of the track.

“With these borderline things, they’re always going to be controversial. But we just need to have a consistent situation.

“You can’t say ‘it’s good to use it in a race, but you can’t overtake there.’ They should be black or white, they shouldn’t be shades of gray. “

Announcement | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2021 Bahrain Grand Prix

Browse all 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix articles