Verstappen Crashes Out at Spa

Topping the list of those who were disappointed on Sunday has to be Max Verstappen. The Dutchman’s race was all over after a few hundred metres, following a collision with Kimi Räikkönen at La Source, much to the despair of the sea of orange that indicates the presence of his home fans who flocked to the Ardennes, just as they do at so many of the European races.

However, Verstappen looked to be facing a tough task right from the start of the weekend, because on a track like Spa, Red Bull clearly had to give best to not just Mercedes but Ferrari too. Honda has undoubtedly made great progress this season but it’s still not quite a match for its rivals on certain tracks.

Max might have hoped to finish fifth and maybe a bit more, given that Vettel was struggling with his tyres but on Sunday, a podium was not on. However, there’s a big gap between that and having to walk back to the pits, helmet in hand just a few moments after the start.

“It was of course not a great end to the weekend but it’s not the worst thing that can happen in life as we have seen yesterday, so I cannot really call this frustration. I got a poor start, the reaction was not great and then I got wheel spin when I released the clutch. I tried to stay on the inside into Turn 1 but I think Kimi expected to be fully ahead of me and just followed his line. I don’t think you can blame anyone and I guess he just didn’t see me, once I was next to him and he was turning then we couldn’t back out. We touched, my track rod was broken so I went straight on into the barrier at Eau Rouge and the race was over. These things happen, it’s very unfortunate for the Team and we will of course try and do better next week.”

There was disappointment too for Lando Norris. The McLaren rookie was close to being best of the rest, given that he spent nearly the entire race running fifth. But then, on the penultimate lap, his Renault power unit let him down and he had to park the car. It was a real shame for Lando, who was on course for his best F1 result to date.

And what to say of the Alfa Romeo drivers? After a brilliant qualifying performance that after penalties had been applied elsewhere saw him start sixth, Räikkönen’s race was all but over at La Source on the opening lap, due to the collision with Verstappen, typical of the sort of incident we have seen many times before at this corner.

As for Antonio Giovinazzi, who had started from the back end of the grid, he was heading for a strong points finish when he went off the track on the final lap. However, everyone has only a few days to wait before trying again when we head to the temple of speed that is Monza.