2021 Bahrain Grand Prix Race Thread
in Formula 1 ·
Raymond Anderson4 said:It feels to me like Max's tires were completely shot, maybe even more so than Lewis's... Lewis was running older rubber, sure, but he was managing his tires quite well, whereas Max really burned through his fresher set just trying to close the gap on Lewis.
I can't help but wonder if that single moment at turn 4 was really his only real opening... because once that window closed, he just didn't have the grip left to make another move. He had one shot, and it seems like Lewis played him perfectly, almost baiting him into going wide... I kind of get why Max went a bit wide, though, since they were so tight together and he probably wanted to avoid any contact. Lewis Hamilton's FW and Max Verstappen's front tire were incredibly close coming out of that corner, and while Lewis Hamilton's line looked like a true racing line, Max might have just been playing it safe, afraid that cutting back onto the racing line would result in him clashing with Lewis...
Are you absolutely certain he didn't have another chance? Like, if he’d just been a bit more patient—or maybe just more experienced—and waited until both of them had cleared that trailing Alfa Romeo before making his move... that Alfa seemed to pop up right when Max decided to strike, almost like it was timed specifically to mess with him. In my eyes, despite how much experience Max Verstappen has now, it really came down to that bit of youthful impatience... that's just how it looked to me...

