Max Verstappen states that he actually moved forward by a bit during penultimate start in F1 Australian GP, as he adds on his rough starts.
Once more, the issue around grid positioning at the start of a Grand Prix popped up on Sunday in F1 Australian GP. This time it was the reigning champion Red Bull’s Verstappen, who caught the eye of the public.
At the final restart, Verstappen appeared to be too far forward in his grid box. This incident caught the eye of a whole host of people with footage from television and photographs of fans in the stands suggesting the Dutchman being out of position.
Esteban Ocon picked up a penalty in Bahrain while Fernando Alonso did likewise at Saudi Arabia for being incorrectly lined up in their grid slots, but Verstappen escaped punishment. It was talked about but was clarified that he didn’t position incorrectly.
In fact, Mercedes’ Toto Wolff revealed that they looked at it from several angles but didn’t find anything to warrant a penalty. Verstappen, meanwhile, noted that he actually pushed himself a bit forward when he stopped. He had lost his reference point.
“To be honest with you I think I braked a bit late and then I lost my reference a bit but then I looked and I was like I still have a little bit more space,” said Verstappen. “I actually moved a bit forwards and yeah, it was really on the limit. But on the limit is on the limit, it’s not over the limit”.
“The sun was also quite difficult at the end, the visibility especially into Turn 1, Turn 3 was quite tough,” he summed up. Verstappen may have had a point with “on the limit” not being “over the limit”, but there was still an outcry.
The grand prix which saw three red flag periods had Verstappen get a poor start initially where George Russell got away well from second place to lead from teammate Lewis Hamilton who barged his way through the Dutchman.
With that poor initial start, one might feel Verstappen was even a little uneasy at the third start but he actually got better with his starts as the race progressed. “I mean I had a terrible first one so I was actually not really looking forward to it,” he said. “But luckily we seem to improve it a bit afterwards”.
“But I think it was a bit more difficult because of how cold the tyres were so you also didn’t really know what you’re going to get off the line.” Nonetheless, once he got past Hamilton with the manoeuvre around the outside, it appeared everything was pretty much under control for the Red Bull charger.
Amid the red flags and stoppages, the only mistake that Verstappen made in the grand prix was his slight off at Turn 13 but with the gap he had, he could get back on track without much issues. Even at the second re-start, he escaped the mayhem while watching it on TV.
“It was just a tiny lock-up and they want to flat spot the tyres, so I ran a bit wide, cut the grass a bit, saved Melbourne a bit of money to cut the grass there,” joked Verstappen. “Regarding the second start, I don’t think Lewis was alongside me. I think my start was a little bit better than what I had before, so I was happy about that because the tyres were really, really cold”.
“And then, of course, after Turn 1, I saw there were massive gaps behind me, so I thought already there was something going on, and then I saw the replays and it was just a lot of chaos behind. So yeah, how it goes sometimes,” summed up Verstappen.
Whether or not there should have been a penalty applied is another issue and had it been applied maybe the result might have been different. Nevertheless, Verstappen was in a class of his own at the weekend and took more points than Sergio Perez.
Here’s the winning moment for Max Verstappen: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2023-australian-grand-prix-verstappen-crosses-the-line-to-take-his-second-victory-of-the-season-at-albert-park.1762049813707059113.html
Here’s what happened at re-start: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2023-australian-grand-prix-chaos-and-multiple-crashes-on-second-restart-sees-race-immediately-stopped-again.1762048506170535189.html
Here’s Max Verstappen losing out: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2023-australian-grand-prix-russell-and-hamilton-jump-pole-sitter-verstappen-as-leclerc-spins-out-on-the-race-start.1762039982330957997.html
Here’s fan being hit by Kevin Magnussen’s wheel rim
Here’s FIA asking promoters for investigation
Here’s FIA dismissing FIA protest
Here’s how F1 Australian GP panned out