How Mercedes and Russell Almost Lost the Race?
During the last lap of the race today, everything was looking well under control for the undisputed leader of the entire weekend — George Russell.
But when Valtteri Bottas crashed, Russell was the first to arrive at the scene and, in all probability, was expecting an instant VSC. He therefore lifted off significantly.
It was apparent that he was not expecting to resume running at full power. So significant was his lift that the turbo pressure dropped, and by the time he realised the VSC was not coming and he needed full power again, there was initially very little available — until the turbo pressure built back up to its optimal level.
Baku is a spectacular street circuit, and one of its unique features is its phenomenally long start/finish straight, with the finish line very close to Turn 1. This creates spectacular tow strategies on the long run to the first corner.
And that is exactly what we had today.
The finish gap was about four times smaller than the qualifying gap!
That simply does not happen often — not only in F1, but in motorsport in general.
Bring on Malaysia.
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How Race Control Dropped the Ball Big Time
Today’s race showed something very important — the weight Race Control places on its decisions goes far beyond the sporting side.
When Valtteri crashed at Turn 15 on the final lap, with the leaders approaching, Race Control did not deploy the VSC despite the potentially dangerous position of the car. Instead, double yellow flags were used.
We have seen the VSC brought out for far less dangerous circumstances. So what if someone had crashed into Valtteri’s car? What if a serious accident had happened further down the field because drivers were trying to avoid each other?
This decision was completely different from the recent Race Control pattern. The obvious difference was that a VSC would have meant the race finishing behind the Safety Car — with all the negative optics that come with it. Remember Silverstone earlier this year?
But what if the winner had been decided precisely because of this unusual Race Control decision?
What if the 0.196 seconds separating the top two drivers was the price of that decision?
And if that had happened, what would the optics of the race have looked like then?
Racing decisions — especially when safety is concerned — should be completely independent of the marketing, PR and business aspects of the sport.
Safety cannot depend on how the ending of a race might look.
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Should Colapinto Be Banned?
No.
Today’s accident was a serious misjudgement, probably combined with a momentary loss of concentration. Colapinto got it wrong — and there were severe negative consequences for his team and Norris. But that does not automatically make him an inadequate or dangerous driver.
Yes, every driver has a responsibility to remain alert and control their car at all times. But when drivers are fighting wheel-to-wheel for position, mistakes will happen. That is part of racing.
We saw something similar today with Lindblad. He was trying to avoid Ocon and still ended up hitting his team-mate. The outcome was serious, but the intention and circumstances matter.
Look at last year’s Austrian GP, for example. Kimi Antonelli — then a rookie and now the World Championship leader — made a remarkably similar mistake when he crashed into Max Verstappen.
Nobody suggested that one mistake meant Antonelli should be banned.
The key distinction is simple: was this reckless driving, or was it a racing error?
There is no suggestion that Colapinto deliberately tried to take his team-mate out or drove with complete disregard for the consequences. He made a serious mistake, and he will undoubtedly learn from it.
His five-place grid penalty for Malaysia may be appropriate. A ban, as suggested by Lando Norris, is a completely different matter.
As the saying goes: this is racing. 🏎️
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🏎️ The Fastest Lap Team
All images and videos used in The Fastest Lap Newsletter are our own or have been provided by our partners, including https://www.spasgp.com/
The Fastest Lap Newsletter is an independent project and is not affiliated with Formula 1 or any F1 team.
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That’s a chequered flag 🏁 for today.
Tomorrow, best. 🏎️