https://goo.gl/R9bv2n
Max Verstappen believes he wouldn't have beaten Lewis Hamilton to victory in
the Japanese Grand Prix even without losing time in the traffic late on.
The Dutchman was all over Hamilton on the penultimate lap of the Suzuka, as
the race leader got bogged down behind the lapped McLaren of Fernando Alonso.
However, this proved a false dawn for Verstappen's victory hopes as he
dropped time clearing Alonso himself, allowing Hamilton to establish a gap
once more.
Verstappen was then held up by the lapped Williams of Felipe Massa - who
Hamilton had gotten by with relative ease on the main straight – to end up
1.2s adrift at the chequered flag.
"I could see Lewis managing his tyres and, with traffic, it seemed difficult
for him to follow other cars compared to me," Verstappen recalled.
"When you close up, you lose a lot of downforce. I couldn't really attack
him, but I tried."
Asked whether losing time behind Alonso cost him the win, he said: "It didn't
help, but it was more last lap with Massa.
"But I don't think I could get past Lewis, I could close up. It was not ideal
but it wouldn't have made a difference."
Verstappen, who overtook teammate Daniel Ricciardo at the start and quickly
moved past the hobbled Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, couldn't match Hamilton's
pace in the initial run on supersofts.
But, owing to a "better balance" on softs and despite a blistered tyre, he
could stay in touch with Hamilton in the second stint, which enabled his
late-race challenge.
"Once I got past Seb I could do my own thing. First stint was alright, Lewis
was a bit faster and then on soft tyres we had a better balance.
"I didn't want to close up [to Hamilton] too much in case [that] destroyed my
front tyres and I needed them at the end."
Alonso "tried not to bother anyone"
Meanwhile, Alonso, who was summoned to the stewards after the race over
"ignoring blue flags", said he did his best not to interfere in the victory
battle.
However, he also noted that he would accept whatever ruling the stewards
reached, the Spaniard having finished outside of the points in 11th.
"They can do whatever they want. I don't have points anyway," Alonso said.
"I tried not to bother anyone. They [Hamilton and Verstappen] were first and
second with two laps to go and they finished first and second so I don't
think it was determinant for the race.
"But whatever they say, we'll accept it."
VER认为就算没有被慢车挡到，他也没有办法超越HAM
主要是因为他的车在接近对手时就会损失很多下压力
而且在倒数第二圈时ALO对他其实并没有什么影响
反而是最后一圈时Massa的影响比较大一些
但无论如何，他都认为超越HAM是不可能的事情
MAX说话其实都还蛮直接的，他都说ALO对他没影响那就是真的没有了