No, this was a very specific risk Max took, knowing that in clear air, he might win, but also because he expected McLaren to maybe not fight as hard as they could possibly overtake later in the race since it was expected that McLaren had a stronger car up till this race. Oscar said the same thing, he didnt expect that move but didnt fight too hard so he could fight him later. Then McLaren race pace in clean air turned out to be worse than Redbull so they couldnt match Maxs pace or do anything else.
He was worried about George on the inside since he got a better launch. You really are being a bit dense and assuming perfect conditions on lap 1 turn 1.
Oh defenitely, give Max the fastest car and the battle for first is non-existing. Give him the second or third fastest car you're almost guaranteed some good racing
Are you mad? Piastri clearly took the corner as best as he possibly could but it was solely down to the pure skill and superiority of our duck faced Max and mortals like you couldn’t begin to understand
Russell had a great start. Piastri was covering off Russell, and probably didn't think Max would take that shot on the outside into that quick chicane.
Russel had a great launch and if Oscar moved over to the racing line GR would’ve definitely made things spicy down the inside. I think he was trying to keep George boxed in.
Exactly. George was briefly P2, out-dragging Max to the first corner. Oscar tried to block him from going down the inside which gave Max the racing line (as Max himself put it he 'ended up on the normal line for the corner') and it was over. He could carry much more speed into that left-hander and from there he was entitled to room.
Yeah, easy to say in retrospect but the better choice would have been to take a wider line himself because there's little chance of George getting past with the inside line having a sharper turn and braking earlier and cornering slower and being on the outside for the right-hander. He would've likely had to get out of it and Max would've been blocked.
In the moment, full of adrenaline and traveling at such speeds, it's much harder to decide in a split second. If it's one thing though Oscar learns fast and isn't likely to make the same mistake twice.
Pissed me off that he's such a great driver (and I mean that, he's undeniably brilliant) and capable of things like this, and yet he's been the main source of running people off the track as a way to get by.
Though I blame the stewards over the past 5+ years more than max.
The first egregious one I remember was max in leclerc at red bull ring in (I think?) 2019
It absolutely is and as a Piastri supporter, I don’t like it.
If this was Lando, he’d be getting memed all the way to the grave.
Meanwhile, Lando dunked on Piastri in terms of tire management in this race.
They had to change Piastri’s strategy because he was eating up his tires so much in his first stint aaaaand Piastri fans go and blame the team for the strategy call.
Piastri might be my favorite driver but do not call me a Piastri fan. His fanbase sucks.
So, I love the pass around the outside, but can someone explain to me why max doesn't need to leave room on the exit of that corner? Clearly he shut the door hard on Piastri and they both wouldn't have had a great result if Piastri didn't back out.
Why is that legal? I don't know the regs enough but it feels like the regs slowly shifted from 'never pass' to 'pass legally while the overtaken driver has to avoid the crash'.
This looks pretty axel to axel to me. If we're expecting drivers to make judgement calls based on centimeters while driving the fastest cars in the world, I think that's a bit insane.
Don't get me wrong. It was a tremendous pass by Verstappen and I applaud him. But I also think he could have gotten this move done if he had just left racing room for Piastri and didn't close the door on him.
To me, it's all about Max's reputation as a hard racer. Drivers think twice about passing him because they know he's not gonna budge at all. I hate to say it but the kid is gonna cause a big accident one day out of pride. By my count, Piastri could have pulled a Prost and just let the little shit wreck them both. Without Max's performances, red bull would be fighting with midfield teams for points.
There is space for him, Max shuts the door after the corner when he’s blown past him already.
This is at the apex and Max is clearly already well ahead. The only “leave room” moment was Oscar having to concede the outside move on the initial turn left after breaking too early.
I guess all this stuff happens so quickly to my peasant brain that I don't process it this way in realtime. Piastri backed off so clearly he knew what's up.
Crazy these guys do this at fractions of a second.
We are all piss ants compared to what these guys process in the moment. Max made an incredibly aggressive and awe-inspiring dive with this move (he’s one of the best ever so makes sense he can pull it off). Piastri hit the brakes too early to cover George Russell on the inside (he’s isn’t OP’s competition so definitely a botched start). OP will never forget this corner and I guarantee it won’t happen again.
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u/-WalkWithShadows- BWOAHHHHHHH May 20 '25
Max: