This will not improve the already tumultuous relations between Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon. Saturday morning during qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Dutchman was exasperated by overtaking the Frenchman to start a new timed lap. “What a stupid idiot!” », blasted Verstappen on the radio, who tamped him down by diving inside the first corner to take revenge for this maneuver.
“I don’t know what he was trying to do,” the three-time world champion told Canal + after the race. He almost hit me before turn 14 because he was overtaking two cars. » And the Batavian continued: “He overtook me at turn 17 just before the start of the lap, which doesn’t happen. So I attacked him at turn 1 and we went wide. » “I then thought: ‘Well, if you screw me, I’m going to screw you too in turn 1 and, of course, it worked,’ he then said, in less chastened language, in front of Dutch cameras.
For his part, Ocon did not want to return to the subject. But he immediately expressed his incomprehension: “It’s a joke, Verstappen dived into the first corner like a crazy person,” he said instantly on the radio. Finally trapped by the Dutchman, the Norman finished 17th and was eliminated in Q1. As for Verstappen, he will start on the front row (2nd) on Sunday and will try, despite his criticism on the circuit, to achieve a… 18th success this season.
