He’s not wrong. The restart was especially bad for him because he was squeezed from both sides and had to back out or he was going to get hit. A few seconds later into the braking zone nearly the same thing happened and he yielded again. After the restart madness was sorted out he got to work passing people again.
Having a quick car helps make decisions quickly to live to fight another day, but his colleagues could stand to be more sensible about their car positioning. It doesn’t have to be ‘win it or bin it’ whether you’re at the front (Checo) or closer to the back.
I think you’re right, and that’s how it should be. But there is so much incentive to put other drivers in the position of choosing to crash or yield.
I’d argue Lewis yielding to Max early in the season is a big reason he lost the 2021 championship.
And then when drivers do something stupid, they get a 5 second penalty, and that’s that. It’s bollocks that there aren’t stronger consequences for doing dumb shite, and still being able to keep driving like it’s nothing. There need to be meaningful consequences for rule breaches, and especially those with dangerous consequences.
Honestly it seems like this comment was tailor-made for Lance Stroll, but at the same time, you’re right about other drivers sending it for one big “chance” whose most likely outcome is disaster, and nothing but.
I think it’s telling that when Lando was approaching George his engineer warned him- "We know what Russell is like. He’s all or nothing so just have patience with him. "
There are a few drivers on the grid that the others are more cautious of because of their driving style. As long as they race within the rules it’s fine and people tiptoe around the issue, but no one wants to have their race ended over a boneheaded move that was never on. Sometimes it’s aggressive driving, sometimes it’s incompetence.
Every situation is different but there do seem to be a few drivers more prone to that behavior or to making those mistakes.
I suppose it can be beneficial to have a reputation for being unyielding as well. Verstappen redefined the boundaries of what is permitted in F1, and Hamilton before him. Senna is famous for his “back out or crash” quote.
At a certain point, the people you’re racing will know how far you’re willing to go and you’ll force them to take evasive action. At that point it doesn’t really come across as boneheaded driving anymore.
I think in most cases, aggressive driving is just a form of incompetence. Or inexperience. In a lot of cases, drivers only have to make the same mistake once or twice before they change things up and become more judicious in choosing when to take big risks and send it.
