03/28/2021 16:08
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 03/28/2021 4:08 PM
Everything was happiness for Max Verstappen at the Sakhir circuit, with three laps to go before the end of the Bahrain Grand Prix, which raised the curtain on the 2021 Formula 1 season. The Dutchman had just overtaken Lewis Hamilton to position himself as new leader of a race full of emotion and suspense, which had been a strategy game between the two best drivers of the moment and a show I say of the premier class.
However, his joy vanished when from the
Red Bull
box
, they warned him:
"The organization asks you to return the position, Max
.
"
What had happened?
The Dutchman had gone off track when overtaking at Turn 4, something that can be seen in the video that the category shared on his Twitter account.
The stewards of the
International Automobile Federation
(FIA) warned him and ordered him to give up the lead.
He paid attention, braking his car and letting the
Mercedes
pass
, who regained first place and did not let go of him anymore.
"He went completely off the track, completely out," Hamilton radioed to his team.
And immediately, Red Bull's order for Verstappen arrived.
"Let Lewis pass
,
"
Verstappen heard;
and so he did.
With four laps to go, Max takes almost certain victory from Lewis
And then hands it back to him moments later #BahrainGP 🇧🇭 # F1 @LewisHamilton @ Max33Verstappen pic.twitter.com/PJoXhaCjHd
- Formula 1 (@ F1) March 28, 2021
However, the Dutchman was not happy with the decision.
"Why not have continued? I could have easily achieved five seconds. I'd rather lose so than be second this way," he complained on the radio in an exchange with
Christian Horner
, head of Red Bull.
Mad Max
believed that the team should have let him continue in the lead because he felt confident that he could make a big enough difference to Hamilton that he would not lose the win if he received a time penalty penalty.
However, he did not refer to the controversy in his contact with the press as soon as the test was over.
"It is disappointing not to win, but we really fought against Mercedes, we got good points and we have to be happy. I can see the positive of this race," he limited himself to commenting that although he continued to press in the final laps, he could no longer return to steal leadership from Hamilton.
Verstappen said that despite the disappointment, he can see "the positives in this race."
Photo EFE / EPA / Lars Baron
The seven-time champion, meanwhile, commented: "It was horrible. One of the most difficult races I have had in a long time. Max was very close to me in the last laps."
"I was struggling on the final stage on my rear tires, which were maybe eight laps older than Max's. I felt like he was going to catch up with me with 10 laps to go and I thought it was going to be practically impossible to keep him behind. That was until then. Turn 4 incident, "commented the Briton, acknowledging that his rival's mistake was a great relief to him.
"I thought I wasn't going to be able to keep it back. Just on the last lap, I got to a point where I thought I was in a good position. But even on that lap, near the end, I thought
'That's it, I'm done. has'
", he acknowledged.
