Why the red mist is integral to Verstappen's brilliance

The hero-villain line is difficult to tread and Max Verstappen crossed it in Barcelona - but his genius depends on volatility

- KIERAN JACKSON

In hindsight, the fiery blow-up was somewhat inevitable. In the scorching heat of the Catalan sun on Sunday, enraged as a plethora of events rapidly unravelled against him, Max Verstappen eventually overheated. It’s not the first time; it won’t be the last.

The first thing to note is that his erratic swerve into the side of arch-rival George Russell in the final laps of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix was clearly deliberate. Russell was fortunate he did not sustain race-ending damage. If he did, the punishment for Verstappen would have been worse than a 10-second time penalty. A disqualification may have been inevitable.

Instead, Verstappen dropped from fifth to 10th, costing him nine points in the F1 world championship, received three penalty points on his FIA Super Licence and will live to fight another day. Even if the Dutchman is now just one mishap away from a race ban, he only needs to keep it clean for the next two rounds before he has breathing space again.

Most uncharacteristically, Verstappen’s infuriation was on this occasion a by-product of a quickfire double error on the Red Bull pit wall. Kimi Antonelli’s late mechanical failure resulted in a safety car with 10 laps to go. Most of the field pitted, switching to quicker soft tyres. Verstappen did not have that option, instead switching to more durable, but slower, hard tyres.

“What the fuck is this tyre?”, Verstappen queried over team radio to trusted engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. The Dutchman almost lost his car at the restart, magnificently saving his Red Bull from spinning into the wall, before losing third place to Charles Leclerc.

Given the tyre choice, Verstappen should not have pitted; he’d have been better served staying out, taking the lead of the race, and trying to defend in the closing five laps on older, soft tyres.