During a steady Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday there were many battles ensuing through the field, but one was about to set to turn the race on its head.
On lap 46 the young Max Verstappen dived into the pits for a second time and bolted on a fresh set of super soft tyres. As he filed back into the pack he ended up behind his team-mate Carlos Sainz. The Toro Rosso team had kindly asked Sainz to move over due to their different strategies and the sheer pace Max was carrying on fresher tyres.
During this phase of the race, Max showed great maturity for his age. He came up with the idea of following Kimi Raikkonen through the lapped traffic despite being lapped himself; he saw the opportunity to catch drivers unaware through being blue flagged by Kimi and to then follow through amongst the confusion.
This idea was a genius move, as Kimi and Max came to the tail of Romain Grosjean. The Lotus team informed Romain of Verstappen’s tactic. Exiting Mirabeau, Grosjean let Kimi past but squirted the throttle just enough not to allow Verstappen through into Loews hairpin. It was great to watch such tactics on the tight streets of Monte Carlo.
Max Verstappen vs Romain Grosjean
For several laps afterwards, Max was all over the gearbox of Romain’s Lotus on older tyres trying to look for any opportunity to make a move. Starting lap 64 out of 78, Verstappen got a great run out of the last corner with DRS open and fresher tyres. He saw his opportunity to try a move, but this amounted to a huge crash into Ste Devote leaving the Toro Rosso driver heading straight into the barrier nose-first. Romain’s car somehow managed to get away with little damage to his Lotus and the Frenchman went on to finish the race.
Max Verstappen Will Overcome Grosjean Setback
Many have claimed that this accident is evident that perhaps having a 17-year-old in a Grand Prix car is dangerous. Even Grosjean himself called the move “ridiculous” on the radio, seeming to forget the fact he was once a younger driver making many mistakes.
Does this accident show that a 17-year-old shouldn’t be in a Formula One car? Or does it show that due to the circumstances is it just a racing incident that could have happened to anyone else?
With any driver on softer, fresher tyres it’s very easy to be all over the back of the car in front trying to make a move stick. Max doesn’t deserve his grid penalty for the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix, but that’s the stewards’ decision to make. I have no doubt in his young shining talent he is already showing, he’ll show that he can overcome this small setback.
