Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc still “have a bit more to learn” after being frustrated with their results at the Turkish Grand Prix.
In the case of Verstappen, the Dutchman had been in a class of his own in qualifying before drying conditions allowed Lance Stroll to snatch pole in Q3.
Then, on race day, again, just as the Red Bull driver appeared set to charge towards the lead, a mistake behind Sergio Perez forced him to pit for new tyres and he never really recovered, eventually finishing sixth.
As for Leclerc, he actually had an impressive race until a mistake at Turn 12 on the final lap saw second place slip away, eventually crossing the line fourth.
And F1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn thinks those moments, in contrast to the final top three of Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel, who have a combined 706 race starts, proved that experience made the difference.
“What we saw was the old guard demonstrating their experience and the young pretenders showing they have a bit more to learn,” he wrote in his Formula1.com column.
Also Read:
- Leclerc a ‘better driver’ despite tough 2020, realistic about 2021 chances
- Frustrated Verstappen hopes F1 ‘never’ has slippy Istanbul track issue again
- Brawn dismantles Istanbul complaints: A challenge ‘should be a good thing’
“It was fascinating to watch Sebastian’s performance this weekend, people are quick to write any type of sportsman off if they have a quiet period.
“Sunday reminded us of his deep talent. He’s been a bit in the shadow of Charles this year and coming to the end of his Ferrari marriage is not easy, so I think the Turkish GP was a great day for him. He didn’t put a foot wrong and was ready to pounce when an opportunity came up.
“In contrast, the younger drivers – such as Charles and Max – made mistakes. They wouldn’t have experienced a race like this before,” he suggested, with the wet conditions combining with a very low-grip track surface.
“It was a real challenge to judge how the tyres would behave, how they would evolve and anticipating where the tyres will be in 10 or 20 laps time – this was where experience came in.
“But this will be another reference point in these young drivers’ data bank. If we did another race in Turkey tomorrow, I’m sure a lot of them would approach it differently.”
Reflecting on the incident with Perez which effectively ended any hopes of victory, Verstappen denied he was being overambitious through the high-speed Turn 11.
“I didn’t even want to overtake him there,” he told De Telegraaf. “It’s not that I was too impatient or anything like that. There was nothing I could do at that spot.
“I just wanted to hook up behind him, but suddenly I understeered off the track. Then it was more or less finished. After that, I was stuck in a little train for most of the time.”
The 23-year-old also revealed how a mistake by the mechanics left his car heavily compromised in terms of balance.
“Everything went wrong basically,” he said.
“It turned out that the adjustment of my front wing was completely wrong. On one side we were seven degrees short of what should have been our front wing set-up. That is quite a lot really.
“Normally you adjust one degree here or there, something like that. But seven degrees, that is a lot. So what can you do as a driver? Almost nothing works as a result of that.
“The state of the asphalt was ridiculous as well,” he added. “And with this front wing set-up, there is not much you can do as a driver.”