The best part of the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix was undoubtably watching Max Verstappen gain places after missing qualifying due to his crash during the final practice session. When all was said and done, he crossed the line in P9, which was excellent considering his last place starting position. But he made a questionable overtake to get there.
On lap 58, Verstappen was battle with Carlos Sainz on the run down to the Nouvelle Chicane. He out-braked Sainz into the chicane and in doing so carried a bit too much speed. He slightly missed the corner, hopping over the sausage kerb to rejoin the track in front of Sainz. Despite missing the corner and having all four tyres over the kerb, Verstappen did not concede the position back to Sainz.
This was clearly a rule violation because he cut the corner and failed to give the position back to Sainz. A big factor in corner cutting penalties is the time that was gained by corner cutting and it’s difficult to deny that Verstappen gained a lot of time by corner cutting. Although Verstappen was entirely past the Renault of Sainz before the corner, he was behind him at the start of the braking zone and was able to get by Sainz by braking less. However, braking less causing him to miss the corner, so had he not missed the corner, he wouldn’t have been able to brake as little as he did to make the overtake.
It’s worth noting that Sainz did cut the chicane as well the lap before when defending against Verstappen, but there were a couple of big differences. Verstappen and Sainz were side-by-side going into the corner, with Sainz on the inside of the corner. Sainz cut the corner more than Verstappen did.
However, in this case, Verstappen forced Sainz to miss the chicane, since it’s not wide enough for two cars. Verstappen came from way behind and again used late braking to get alongside the Renault. Technically, this incident was more Verstappen’s fault.
With that being said, there’s no doubt that Verstappen should have given back the place on lap 58. But what do you think?
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company. Assumptions made in any analysis contained within this article are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
