Swings and roundabouts: Max Verstappen's meltdown in the closing laps of the Barcelona Grand Prix resulted in a catastrophic failure of race stewarding, but at least it was entertaining. Before that, Formula 1's historical European triple-header was turning out to be a bit of a dud. Emilia Romagna featured one astonishing overtake and little else; in spite of hacky changes to pit-stop regulations, Monaco was so grotesquely unraceable that it nearly horseshoed around into good entertainment, if one enjoys receiving early-access previews of hell. If races can't even be salvaged by a close title fight between teammates, then who gives a damn about sporting fairness?
It's a bad sign for the prevailing discourse cycle to be about how to make the sport less boring. At that point, why not end with a bang? At least Verstappen is always willing to deliver on that front.
It is easy to comprehend why Verstappen was frustrated by his circumstances. A change to front wing regulations prior to the race didn't even put a dent in McLaren's domination of the rest of the field; quoth Sir Lewis Hamilton, "What a waste of money." Verstappen started the race third on the grid behind two McLarens, and despite some minor pit-stop intrigue found himself, 60 laps and a safety car later, still third on the grid behind two McLarens, but now on hard tires, surrounded by a sea of red softs. With six laps to go, Verstappen was a sitting duck and racing angry.
A clumsy exit onto the main straight left him so slow that Charles Leclerc did not so much overtake his car as coincidentally pass via evasive action. Their cars made contact on the straight while Leclerc was ahead; neither of them took damage, and it did not deter Leclerc's overtake. On the following corner, George Russell, eager to get in on the action, took an optimistic opportunity into the first corner and, unable to stick the corner, forced Verstappen off track. This time, Verstappen still maintained his place ahead of Russell.
Verstappen took to the radio, as is a driver's wont. He didn't quite manage a Hamilton-caliber quip, but there's no undervaluing reaction time. Verstappen lodged his complaint about Leclerc before even reaching the next corner. "He just rammed into me," Verstappen said. He then immediately made contact with Russell. After rejoining the track, Verstappen added, "He did the same, that's a penalty." The nebulously pronoun-ed grievances about Leclerc (unwarranted) and Russell (warranted) were semi-clarified after another couple of corners—"Charles just rammed into me on the straight"—before Verstappen settled into silence.
On lap 64, Verstappen's race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, delivered a tragic message with professional reluctance: It was his recommendation, and the team's, that Verstappen swap places with Russell. Verstappen responded, fairly if not very calmly, "No, I was ahead. Mate, what the fuck?" The subsequent argument ended with Lambiase saying, "It's a shame, but that's the rules." Verstappen then slowed into turn 5, seemingly allowing for Russell to swap places. As Russell went around the outside and began to make the turn into the corner, Verstappen struck Russell's car with his own, wheel-to-wheel, and accelerated away. Russell got on the radio and asked, fairly and—considering the circumstances—calmly, "What the fuck?"
Even stronger condemnation came from 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg, who was commentating for Sky Sports. "He needs to get black flagged," Rosberg said, of Verstappen. "He just crashed into Russell on purpose. Just to prove a point." He declined commentary partner David Croft's offering of a replay lest anyone be too hasty. "I don't need to. That was horrible. That did not look good." The drivers in the podium cooldown room after the race made faint sounds of horror at a replay of the incident ("Oh my God"; "Yikes"), or, in the case of Norris, took the opportunity to make a joke ("I've done that before ... in Mario Kart").
Seven corners later, Verstappen ceded fourth place to Russell—for real this time. The stewards did not disqualify Verstappen from the race as per Rosberg's request. Instead, they quickly doled out a 10-second penalty and three penalty points for the act of intentionally causing a collision. This is, on its face, an egregiously light slap to the wrist for the act of deliberately wielding a car to hit another driver—that is, deliberately accepting the possible consequences of a collision with another driver, which, in spite of modern innovations in safety, can still go very, very wrong. A 10-second penalty is handed out for unfair racing actions such as overtaking off track. Just last race, Russell received a drive-through penalty (i.e. having to literally drive through the pit lane) for deliberately cutting a chicane and not returning the place.
Formula 1 stewarding does not usually operate on concepts such as "precedent" or "consistency," but as an exercise, let's remember some recent penalties for intentionally causing a collision. On the extreme end: Michael Schumacher's 1997 season, when he was fully disqualified from the championship after deliberately colliding with Jacques Villeneuve, his championship rival, in the final race of the season. More recently: the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, when Sebastian Vettel, believing that Lewis Hamilton had just brake-tested him under the safety car, swerved out and intentionally hit the side of his car. Vettel received a 10-second stop-go penalty, essentially an elevated drive-through penalty, for the incident. (Perhaps Verstappen and Russell, too, will find that this incident will become the impetus for a fulfilling friendship that will last for the remainder of their careers.)
Or, depending on semantics: The penultimate race of the now-infamous 2021 season, when Verstappen braked "suddenly and significantly" while under instructions to allow Hamilton to pass. Hamilton ran into the back of his car. After the race, the stewards determined that Verstappen's sudden deceleration caused the crash, and doled out a 10-second time penalty for "brak[ing] in a manner which caused a collision."
The good news is that now that the triple-header is over, there's two weeks' time available for litigating the severity of Verstappen's penalty, and whether or not he showed or will show suitable remorse about the incident. (An Instagram post by Verstappen written this morning stated that the move "was not right, and shouldn't have happened.") Just remember that it could always be worse: We could still be talking about how to make Monaco raceable in a modern F1 car.
So let's talk about Monaco. Putting economy aside, every sport comprises a tortured pulley system out of a mechanics textbook, trying to balance entertainment with fairness and the illusion that anything in the sport is meaningful. F1 is in a particular bind as it has rarely been capable of consistently managing one of those things, let alone all three.
Each track in this year's European triple-header has a storied history that gives a win a little extra weight. The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix carries the weight of Ayrton Senna's death, the Monaco Grand Prix is nearly a century old, and the Spanish Grand Prix celebrated its big 100 in 2013. No matter the details of a race, winning Monaco will always impart more prestige than winning the five-year-old Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, because of the history of the track. (An image: Daniel Ricciardo, dressed in Red Bull navy and red, diving into a pool.) And yet Monaco's storied history is not enough to change the fact that it was so unraceable—an F1 car may as well maintain its position by parking itself on the track—that tanking a drive-through penalty for cutting a chicane just to get past another car was worth it, and drivers were apologizing for the spectacle immediately after it ended.
Russell's penalty proved the concept that intentionally breaking the rules and eating the consequences can be advantageous. Verstappen's proves that the stewarding system in F1 is broken. Even so, the back-to-back is hardly evidence of a sport that has newly lost its way. If you wish to find what is at the heart of the sport, here it is. Come out the other end of whatever happens with Verstappen's penalty, and you will still not find an equitable, just, sporting Formula 1. Otherwise, it would hardly be Formula 1.
