"Even without the crash Ricciardo would have won"
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen found themselves on top of each other in the gravel halfway through the race at Monza. According to Mathias Lauda, son of Niki Lauda, it was clearly the fault of Max. Only Lauda emphasizes that Verstappen hadn't planned it that way.
Verstappen clearly at fault
In the programme Sports and Talk from Hangar 7 of ServusTV, F1-expert Lauda is present. The Austrian expert and racing driver thinks it is clear who was to blame for the crash between Verstappen and Hamilton.
"For me it is clear. The fault lies with Max. It had to be clear to him; Lewis didn't leave him any room there. Max was also behind Lewis in doing so."
Max didn't plan it that way
Lauda does nuance the story: "Max didn't plan it like that. It all went very fast. Fortunately, no one was hurt. It was an exciting passage in the race anyway. The two drivers didn't give each other an inch."
At the end of the interview, Lauda does make it clear that it would not have mattered much to the race leader if the two had crashed or not: "Even if the accident had not happened, McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo would still have won the race. He was extremely fast."