Max Verstappen was easily the fastest man today in Mexico as he virtually led the race from start to finish. Taking the lead at the start, he kept on extending his lead. Lewis Hamilton finished second as he fought off home hero Sergio Perez.
I agree about the articles being rushed, I haven't got the mini sectors times but all that I've seen and read seem to say it's very unlikely Max would have got pole. This article says he was just 0.2 seconds up on his previous best.Juzh wrote: ↑07 Nov 2021, 11:36Just before Tsunoda/perez distraction Verstappen was around 3 tenths up compared to his first Q3 lap, so pole was on the table, even if difficult. It's not a foregone conclusion he couldn't do it. These official articles posted on f1.com are always poorly researched because they have to be pumped out fast.Marty_Y wrote: ↑07 Nov 2021, 05:43https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... rIYQ0.html
Despite looking dominant in practice, Max never looked like he was getting pole in qualification today, Mercedes were getting the soft and mediums working better than red bull.On the second runs, home favourite Perez ran wide when he got distracted by AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda running off in front of him, which put him out of pole contention to the dismay of tens of thousands of fans who only have eyes for him.
His team mate Verstappen wasn’t far behind and had to back off slightly as a result of the Mexican’s off, but the reality is he was unlikely to have had the pace to challenge for pole anyway.
Verstappen had been 0.35secs off Bottas on the first run. By the mid-point of his final lap, he was still slower than Bottas' time, but was up by 0.2secs on his own previous lap - and with the stadium section, where he had been so strong all weekend, still to come.
...Crumbling under pressure? Based on what do you come to this conclusion?Manoah2u wrote: ↑07 Nov 2021, 15:36...
Max is crumbling under the pressure and the car is sliding everywhere so it's going to be a hassle to keep that thing on the road and as such it's questionable that they can challenge Mercedes at all.
...
BTW i dunno if Max reffered to Tsunoda (likely) or Perez being an idiot, but in the end Max really had no yellow flags nor was he really hampered by that incident except for missing his tow so he only has himself to blame (apart from a slippery car).
...
They weren't in his path, and he had no yellow flags.
Exactly. he had no reasons to slow down. He was just overwhelmed.dans79 wrote: ↑07 Nov 2021, 16:45They weren't in his path, and he had no yellow flags.
Not to mention based on the onboards he showed no signs of backing off.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... tu3lv.html
What hurt him more than anything else was the lock up in the stadium section, and that is on him and him alone!
Yeah, that's my feeling too. If there was a mistake on his side, it was the team not telling him Perez and Verstappen were coming sooner so he'd have been able to let them past before that point (and after that the corners coming would have hampered Perez a lot more if he hadn't gone off, so that wasn't really an option either).
Not saying he would have gotten pole but on his second run he did 27.140 vs 27.280 and then he lifted a bit while passing Tsunoda and Perez which caused him to loose some time. It was impossible to get pole after that. Lap hampered.dans79 wrote: ↑07 Nov 2021, 16:45They weren't in his path, and he had no yellow flags.
Not to mention based on the onboards he showed no signs of backing off.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... tu3lv.html
What hurt him more than anything else was the lock up in the stadium section, and that is on him and him alone!
You've said this more times now, including in another (RBR) thread. If I were you, I'd call the stewards.
I said it one other time, and it is against the rules!
His justifiable reason was to avoid a crash, as Perez approached at high speed, so Yuki had to go aside.Drivers must make every reasonable effort to use the track at all times and may not leave the
track without a justifiable reason.'
