Verstappen Criticized By F1 World Champion After 'Unnecessary' Maneuver In Sprint Race

Friday, 27 October 2023 at 05:00

Updated at Saturday, 28 October 2023 at 19:50

F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve disapproved of Max Verstappen's overtake on Charles Leclerc during the 2023 United States Grand Prix.

The United States Grand Prix win marked the 50th career Formula One Victory for the Flying Dutchman. F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve previously praised Verstappen for being unbeatable this season.

On the other hand, Villeneuve had some reservations about his driving as Verstappen pushed Leclerc "off the track," according to Candian, on the first lap of the sprint race.

It all started with a great sprint shootout qualifying session for Verstappen, where he managed to put his Red Bull on pole position. Starting from the second place was Charles Leclerc on Ferrari.

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The pole position on the grid meant the Verstappen was a few meters ahead of the Monegasque driver, but he was on the outside for turn number one.

Consequently, if Leclerc got a better start than the three-time World Champion off the line, it would have been an easy pass into the first corner for him.

This would complicate Verstappen's life for the next few laps as he would need to use his tires more driving in the dirty air of Leclerc's Ferrari. Verstappen did not want that to happen.

As soon as the lights went green for the sprint race at Circuit of the Americas, Verstappen started moving left to cover off Leclerc in order to prevent an overtake into turn one.

Leclerc, with a bit of a better start, tried to go for the gap, which was closing more and more with every second. This resulted in Verstappen pushing Leclerc outside the white lines that mark track limits.

Leclerc then gave up on his overtake attempt as he was too far and too narrow going into the first corner, and Verstappen kept his position. Villeneuve told F1 TV:

"Leclerc was pushed off the track, it’s too much. It wasn’t necessary. I don’t understand why the first lap should be evaluated differently, a dirty maneuver or pushing a car to the limits of the track are things that should be investigated."

The Flying Dutchman was not awarded a penalty for the maneuver in the end and finished the sprint race in the first place with a comfortable margin.