Verstappen’s behavior in Sunday’s Austrian GP shows that “win at any cost” remains his mantra.
They say a leopard never changes its spots, and at the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen proved he will also never change when it comes to adhering to the rules during wheel-to-wheel racing.
Since the end of the controversial and turbulent 2021 Formula One season, Max Verstappen has rarely been challenged at the front of the field. He has comfortably won both subsequent Drivers World Championships. Many observers had started to believe that this was a new, more mature, and better Max Verstappen and that the old driving tactics, where he would go beyond the limits of acceptable racing conduct, had gone forever. But Verstappen’s dark racing arts returned to the fore on Sunday at the Bull Ring. He will do whatever he deems necessary to win, even if that is not within the rules. In 2021, Lewis Hamilton felt the wrath of Verstappen’s driving style; Lando Norris suffered at his expense in Austria.
Until the second round of pit stops during the Austrian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen seemed well on his way to completing a dominant weekend. On Friday, he had the practice time and won the sprint shootout. On Saturday, he won the Sprint Race and qualified on the pole. Then, on Sunday, he led the race from the start and held a comfortable 7-second lead over 2nd-placed Lando Norris.
Then Verstappen took his second pit stop, and the race unraveled for him from there. A slow pit stop reduced Verstappen’s lead to under two seconds, and on fresh tyres, Norris cut the gap to under 1 second, meaning he was now in Verstappen’s DRS zone. So, the circumstance changed dramatically–Norris sensed a win, and Verstappen saw his comfortable lead wiped out.
For background and context, there is a Formula One rule worth noting. A leading driver cannot move to defend his position in what is known as the ‘Braking Zone.’ This effectively means that once the leading driver has picked his chosen line to take through a corner, he cannot then move to block the overtaking driver. The reason is driver safety, including limiting the possibility of high-speed accidents. Ironically, the rule is widely known as the “Verstappen Rule,” introduced in 2016 because Verstappen used the tactic frequently, and crashes resulted from it.
Verstappen did it again on Sunday in Austria. On lap 59, Norris attempted another overtake of Verstappen after feeling that Verstappen had blocked him by moving under braking; however, due to Verstappen’s aggressive defense, Norris ran wide off the track and had to return the position to Verstappen. Norris’s response should have given Verstappen the win because the Briton incurred a 5-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage too many times during the race. In effect, if Norris had passed Verstappen, as long as the Dutchman stayed within 5 seconds of the lead, he would still have won the race.
But there’s more to this story. Next, Verstappen ran wide and off-track to avoid contact with Norris as another overtake was attempted. Verstappen argued that Norris forced him off-track, whereas Norris claimed that Verstappen went off the track to maintain the lead. The stewards didn’t have time to review the incident because of what happened on lap 62. Norris moved to overtake Verstappen on the outside of turn 3, and Verstappen moved across the McLaren’s path. The two cars made contact with each other, suffering punctures. Verstappen was able to recover and finish 5th despite picking up a 10-second time penalty for the incident. However, Norris was forced to retire from the race due to the damage caused.
What’s the takeaway? Verstappen still has not changed from his old aggressive driving nature. What he did when Lewis Hamilton was his chief rival is being replicated with Lando Norris. Unless a public mea culpa is followed by a dramatic change in race day behavior, Max Verstappen’s win-at-any-cost mentality will likely continue.
