Verstappen is not at all concerned with Pérez in Melbourne

Suddenly an almost certain victory for Max Verstappen was at stake. Due to a steering error by Kevin Magnussen, who lost his right rear tire in his Haas car, the Australian Grand Prix was restarted just before the end. Verstappen now did what he had to do with his RB19 and kept Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes behind him. Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin finished third for the third time in a row this season.

The 25-year-old Dutchman thus captured his second victory of the year and firmly established himself in the lead of the standings. After three races, his teammate Sergio Pérez is his main competitor with a fifteen-point deficit. But Verstappen is not afraid of the Mexican. “Verstappen is only concerned with himself,” says former driver Jan Lammers. “He is really not concerned with Pérez. It seems that Pérez is looking a bit more at Verstappen.”

In the still early season of Formula 1, it is mainly about the duel between Verstappen and Pérez. Largely due to lack of competition from other teams. Mercedes, and especially Ferrari, have disappointed so far in three races dominated by Red Bull. Both Red Bull Racing drivers took an immediate victory: Verstappen in Bahrain, Pérez in Saudi Arabia. And both drivers finished second behind the other once. For Verstappen that meant a defeat, for Pérez a small victory. That indicates the difference between the two.

‘First loser’

Verstappen is not the type of driver who celebrates a second place. From an early age he learned from his father Jos Verstappen that you are then “the first loser”. And that is also how Verstappen behaved when he finished fourteenth in an impressive catch-up race from fourteenth place behind Pérez, eight years his senior, two weeks ago. Although Verstappen got his own way.

Verstappen retained the lead in the standings because he earned an extra point at the end of the race in Jeddah with the fastest lap of the day. It marked Verstappen’s winning mentality. “It makes sense that he does that,” says Lammers, who drove his last race in Formula 1 in 1992. “Drivers look through the visor of their helmet at the asphalt and the curbstones. They always want to drive the fastest possible lap to get the best possible starting position and then drive the fastest possible race. Drivers are focused on that. And not so much on their teammate. Although the media would like to have you believe otherwise.”

At the Melbourne circuit, there was not a moment of a battle between Verstappen and Pérez on Sunday. During the third practice leading up to the grand prix, Pérez had problems with the adjustment of his engine, which meant that he was sidelined for a long time. Pérez’s qualifying ended in a slide and he had to start last of the twenty cars. The Red Bull leadership hoped in advance for a place in the top ten for Pérez. With a fifth place, he exceeded the expectations of advisor Helmut Marko and team principal Christian Horner.

The contrast with Verstappen was great. The two-time world champion took his 22nd pole position for his 166th race on the circuit where he had been anything but successful in the past. A third place in 2019 was Verstappen’s best performance so far in Albert Park, where 444,631 spectators were present in recent days. For this record number, Verstappen started as the favorite in Melbourne, ahead of the Mercedes of the British George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen knew down under not a strong start to the race. At the start he immediately had to let Russell go in front of him and he also quickly saw Hamilton pass. On pure class. Although Verstappen thought that his great rival from two years ago had tried to push him off the track. He complained about it over the on-board radio racing engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. The Italian, technically responsible for the car and the only one who speaks to Verstappen during the race, could do nothing for him.

Unexpectedly exciting ending

Verstappen received help from an unexpected quarter when Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) drove Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari off the track. For the first time came the safety car onto the circuit so that the track could be cleaned. That ritual was repeated a few laps later after Alexander Albon (Williams) crashed. After the first restart, Hamilton took the lead, but after twelve laps Verstappen restored the situation and Pérez advanced to the front. Soon after, Russell dropped out with a burning engine. The race seemed decided.

It turned out differently. The Australian GP came to an unexpectedly exciting conclusion almost out of the blue when Magnussen hit a wall with his right rear tyre. The track was so full of carbon fiber that a third start of the race was inevitable. Suddenly the tension was on Verstappen’s face again. In the pit lane, Verstappen briefly contacted Lambiase, who gave an encouraging nod and opened a can of Red Bull.

Verstappen had to recharge after an almost won race, he was almost ten seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Now he did what was expected of him on the third start on soft tires and kept Hamilton behind. After the first corner, the chaos behind Verstappen was already so great that the race had to be stopped again. A new restart failed. For the 37th time the Wilhelmus sounded for Verstappen. He received the congratulations from teammate Pérez with a smile.

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