Lando Max Austria GP crash analysis
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris came to blows in the Austrian Grand Prix when battling for the lead. The result was a puncture for both drivers, a P5 finish for Max and retirement for Lando.
Here’s a deep dive in to exactly what happened and who I think is to blame.
How it played out
Both Max and Lando went for a 2-stop approach in the Austrian GP. The third stint would put Max on a scrubbed set of tyres whereas McLaren had saved Lando a new set.
Lap 51: Max and Lando pit, with Max having a 7 second advantage entering the lane. Red Bull’s pit stop is an uncharacteristically slow 6.5 seconds for Max, which puts Lando within just a couple of seconds of him when they left the pits.
Lap 55: Lando has used his tyre advantage to close to within 1 second of Max and activate DRS. He uses the long first DRS zone to close right up to the back of Verstappen in the braking zone for Turn 4. He looked towards the inside but Max moved to cover him, prompting a complaint from Lando on his team radio that Max illegally moved within the braking zone.
Lap 55
Lap 59: Lando receives a black and white flag for track limits, which means he’s had three strikes and that’s his final warning. A fourth strike would result in a 5-second time penalty.
He again uses the first DRS zone to close up to Verstappen and makes a late lunge to dive up his inside in to Turn 3. He can’t slow the car down in time and runs off the track on the exit. He stays ahead of Verstappen but knows he’d be penalised for gaining an advantage by running off the track, so immediately gives the place back to Max as they enter Turn 4.
Lap 59
Lap 63: Lando again lunges up the inside of Max in to Turn 3, but this time gets his car slowed down in time to stay on the track. Max, however, runs around the outside of Norris and goes off the circuit. He rejoins the track ahead of Lando and doesn’t give the place back.
Lap 63
Lap 64: Lando once again lines up Verstappen for a move in to Turn 3, but Max covers the inside line early. Lando instead goes to the Red Bull’s outside but Max squeezes him and the two make contact.
Max immediately has a left-rear puncture. Lando gets past Max at the exit of Turn 4 but shortly after he realises he has a right-rear puncture, and is then handed a 5-second penalty for the track limit offence when he ran off track trying to pass Max on Lap 59.
Both cars limp back to the pits, Red Bull change Max’s tyre and send him back out in 5th place. Lando’s shredded tyre has severely damaged his McLaren’s bodywork so the team decide to retire the car.
Max is handed a 10-second time penalty for the collision with Lando, but it makes no difference and he finishes 5th.
Analysis
For me there are three things at play here that need to be looked at:
Max moving under braking (lap 59)
Max not giving the place back after running off track when Lando made a clean pass (Lap 63)
Causing the collision (Lap 64
Lap 63
Lap 64: Lando once again lines up Verstappen for a move in to Turn 3, but Max covers the inside line early. Lando instead goes to the Red Bull’s outside but Max squeezes him and the two make contact.
Max immediately has a left-rear puncture. Lando gets past Max at the exit of Turn 4 but shortly after he realises he has a right-rear puncture, and is then handed a 5-second penalty for the track limit offence when he ran off track trying to pass Max on Lap 59.
Both cars limp back to the pits, Red Bull change Max’s tyre and send him back out in 5th place. Lando’s shredded tyre has severely damaged his McLaren’s bodywork so the team decide to retire the car.
Max is handed a 10-second time penalty for the collision with Lando, but it makes no difference and he finishes 5th.
naturally turn right to make the apex.
Causing the collision (Lap 64)
1 – Moving under braking
The rule preventing this was brought in to force after the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix, when Max made a late move under braking whilst defending against Lewis Hamilton, resulting in Lewis having to take evasive action off the track.
After this the sporting regulations were changed to state:
“… any change of direction under braking which results in another driver having to take evasive action will be considered abnormal and hence potentially dangerous to other drivers. Any such move will be reported to the stewards.”
On Lap 59 of the Austrian Grand Prix it was clear that Max breached this rule. The braking zone for Turn 3 starts at the 100 metre board. Lando waited until Max had passed that board, and was on the brakes, to make a dive for the inside.
Looking back from Max’s car here you can see he’s just passed the back of the 100 metre board, and Lando is just starting to jink out to his right.
Then a few metres later in the braking zone Max has deliberately moved to his right, away from the kerb, to cover Lando. This is earlier than a driver would naturally turn right to make the apex.
Moving under braking Max and Lando Austrian GP
Lando had to take avoiding action by darting back to the outside of Max at the last moment, and did well to avoid contact. Norris called it on the radio – Max saw Lando move, then moved himself whilst braking – and he’s right. At the very least it should have been investigated but it wasn’t even noted by the stewards.
2 – Not returning the position
On Lap 63 Norris made a move up the inside of Verstappen in to Turn 3. It was a very late lunge, definitely a bit of a divebomb, but he did just about make the apex and keep it on track.
Max, by running off track outside the sausage kerb, could carry more speed and rejoin ahead of Lando. My initial reaction was that Max should be required to give the place back, as Lando was ahead at the apex.
Unfortunately the steward’s stance on this kind of situation has been very inconsistent over the years. But the most relevant precedent was set the day before, during the sprint race, when Hulkenberg did an identical thing to Alonso. See it here at 3:47. The only difference on that occasion was that Alonso was disadvantaged and Hulkenberg exited the corner in the lead.
The stewards gave Hulkenberg at 10-second time penalty, stating:
“The driver of Car 27 attempted an overtake on Car 14 into Turn 3 but locked up and missed the apex. The Car understeered to the very edge of the track, thereby preventing Car 14 from turning in and forcing the other driver off track.”
Yet at the 2019 Austrian GP, Max did exactly the same thing to Leclerc when battling for the lead. Verstappen made a late lunge up Charles’ inside in to the exact same corner, missed the apex, forced the Ferrari off track and exited the corner in the lead. He wasn’t penalised by the stewards, and went on the win the race. See it here at 5:02.
And at Brazil in 2021, Max did the same thing again to Hamilton, gained an advantage and was not penalised.
I think the Stewards’ penalty on Hulkenberg was harsh. The nature of the DRS zone, braking zone and shape of Turn 3 mean that cars trying to overtake late on the brakes will always run to the outside of the corner on the exit, and that’s just racing.
So in my opinion Max should have been ordered to return the position to Lando, but the precedent set the day before meant the Stewards didn’t want to go against their own decisions.
3 – Causing the collision
Max was given a 10 second time penalty for this, and I think rightfully so. The contact happened because once again he was moving under braking, this time to the outside where Lando had positioned his car.
The rules state you must give a driver on the outside a minimum of 1 car’s width to the white line at the edge of the track. And at around 75 metres before the corner, when both cars are on the brakes, Max gives Lando more than enough space.
