Max Verstappen’s ‘strange rush of blood’ highlighted with Dutch GP pit-lane penalty question raised

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Ex-F1 team manager Peter Windsor said Max Verstappen was “playing with the fire” with his Dutch GP pit-lane overtaking.

A fiery crash for Logan Sargeant in the final Dutch Grand Prix practice session – from which he thankfully walked away unhurt – caused an extensive red flag delay in the one-hour session, which resumed with only two minutes remaining on the clock.

Max Verstappen ‘strange rush of blood’ at Zandvoort

With one final run on the table, drivers made their way out of the pit lane, the pace at which that was happening not swift enough for Verstappen, who weaved his way through the traffic, clearing Lando Norris and ultimately making his way up to the Mercedes of George Russell.

Verstappen would dip his left-front wheel over the pit exit line in the damp conditions, this a line which cannot be crossed, but the stewards did not move to hand out punishment.

Windsor, speaking via his YouTube channel, felt many people were expecting a penalty to come Verstappen’s way, calling it a “strange rush of blood” from a driver “playing with the fire”.

“We had some weird things going on with Max Verstappen, passing Lando Norris coming out of the pit-lane, sort of playing with the fire as he put wheels on the white line on the exit from the pit lane,” said Windsor.

“No word from the stewards about that. Lots of replays on the TV, I suppose lots of people thinking there was going to be a penalty, but no mention of that.

“But a rather strange rush of blood from Max. I guess it just shows the frustration he was in, along with many of the other drivers, but particularly Max on home soil, in front of his fans, that not much progress was being made.”

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Norris and Verstappen went on to form the front row of the grid, Norris pulling out a stellar lap to claim that P1 grid spot by 0.356s over Verstappen.

Speaking to media, including PlanetF1.com, in the post-qualifying press conference, Verstappen admitted that he “never really felt that I was in the fight for pole”, though focus now switches to the race as Verstappen attempts to maintain his undefeated record at Zandvoort since it returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2021.

Asked if he believes his pace will be more competitive compared to Norris on Grand Prix Sunday, Verstappen replied: “I mean, I would hope so, but I think when you see the gap, it’s going to be very tricky.

“Also, it just seems like Lando’s a bit happier in general with just the driving and how he feels. I’m a bit more all over the place with the balance, so I don’t know, maybe it stabilises a bit but I guess we’ll find out.”

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