Racing Bulls duo Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson explained their side of the Max Verstappen blue flag drama during the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.
During the final race before F1’s summer break, havoc unfolded as front-running drivers tried to lap their rivals further down the field.
Four-time World Champion Verstappen encountered this issue in the middle stages of the race whilst trying to defend against his rival Lewis Hamilton. The Dutchman witnessed Lawson and Lindblad’s duel, as the pair appeared to ignore blue flags around the circuit.
However, according to them, an issue with the GPS tracker caused chaos on track with blue flags not properly thrown to drivers.
“It’s not too difficult,” Linblad explained.
“We have the virtual mirror, so we know the car in front and behind. And we can see the gaps, and we have mirrors, which makes it a bit easier.”
“I think it’s more for the cars that were coming through, that it was just a bit of a shame, maybe. But yeah, it wasn’t ideal.”
Lindblad recounted a separate incident earlier in the race between himself and Cadillac’s Sergio Perez.
“I remember at one point I was coming around on lap seven, and I saw blue flags for Checo. Which, you know, it’s Lap 7, so he can’t be that far back. So I don’t really know what was going on with the system.
“Then they never showed the numbers. They just showed a blue flag, which was not the most useful message. But the team helped me out, and I was looking at my deltas on the dash to try to get out of the way to try to not disturb the leaders’ race as much.”
Lawson explains the ‘very Max’ move early in the race
The Incident left Verstappen audibly frustrated over team radio. The Dutchman referred to the pair as ‘morons’ who both ‘deserved to get a penalty’ for what he viewed as careless racing. However, it wasn’t the Red Bull’s first near miss with Lawson,
In the flurry of the first pit stops, the Kiwi driver found himself in the middle of an intense battle between Hamilton and Verstappen.
The Ferrari driver was ahead of Lawson, with his former team-mate catching him on the faster Soft compound tyre. As the laps unfolded, the battle between the 2021 title contenders intensified.
Verstappen made a breathtaking move on the inside of Lawson and Hamilton, nearly making contact with the Briton, but stamped on the brakes hard enough to make the overtake work.
Following the race, Lawson shared his thoughts on the ‘stressful’ move from his former team-mate.
“I was just trying not to get in the way and be too much involved,” he explained. “I wasn’t getting lapped, so I didn’t have to let them go, but I didn’t expect him to go by.
“Obviously, I saw the late lunge. It ended up costing me so much time behind them, which at the time was a bit stressful, but it was a good move. It was a very Max move.”
Formula 1 now heads into a month-long summer break, in which drivers will reset ahead of the final half of an intense season.
READ MORE – Max Verstappen calls for ‘morons’ to receive F1 penalty in furious radio rant
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