Jolyon Palmer column: Rivals wrong to be too hard on Max Verstappen
Palmer：对手对Verstappen太过严苛是不对的
出处：BBC体育版F1 Jolyon Palmer专栏
原文网址：https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/50222106
内文：
Jolyon Palmer, 29 October 2019
(Palmer现在为BBC团队的一部份，以竞争者之角度提供看法及分析)
Max Verstappen caused a stir in Mexico last weekend. It was a race he could
and should have won, but didn't because of some naivety and a disregard for
the rules.
Max Verstappen上周末在墨西哥引起了一阵轰动。那场比赛是他可以赢下而且应该赢得的
比赛，但他却因某种程度的天真以及无视规则而错失机会。
There is no excuse for his actions in qualifying on Saturday, when he failed
to lift off as he passed yellow warning flags for Valtteri Bottas' crashed
Mercedes. But on a wider level Verstappen is actually taking some unwarranted
criticism at the moment.
没有任何借口可以说明Verstappen在周六排位赛通过Bottas撞毁的Mercedes时没有收油门
的行为，但整体来说其实Verstappen目前也接受了不少毫无根据的指责。
Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Bottas were quick to throw jabs at
Verstappen in the post-race top-three news conference.
Lewis Hamilton、Sebastian Vettel以及Valtteri Bottas在赛后颁奖台记者会时毫不犹豫
的调侃了Verstappen。
Hamilton said you had to be aware you are racing Verstappen and give him
extra space, and alluded to the fact that he isn't the smartest racer. Vettel
agreed. And Bottas declared the Red Bull driver came from nowhere in his
overtake in the tight stadium section and could blame only himself for the
puncture that ruined his race.
Hamilton表示当你在与Verstappen赛车时必须给他额外的空间，同时暗指了Verstappen不
是最聪明的赛车手，同时Vettel也同意了此说法。而Bottas则表示红牛赛车手在最狭窄的
棒球场区间的超车是“不知从何而来”的，造成他比赛无望的爆胎也都是自己所造成的。
In reality, Verstappen's race was actually almost blameless.
事实上，比赛中Verstappen整场的表现几乎是无可责怪的。
Hamilton's notion that Verstappen "torpedoed' him at the start is well
wide of the mark.
Hamilton形容之Verstappen“鱼雷了他”的说词也是与事实相入甚远。
Actually, it was Hamilton who was bold in trying to pass Verstappen
around the outside at the start. Hamilton ended up getting into a massive
slide all on his own, and that forced Verstappen off on to the grass at Turn
Three, along with the Mercedes.
实际上，是Hamilton试图从外侧超车的举动过于勇敢，导致他自己的车产生了一个很大的
打滑，并且在三号弯逼迫Verstappen与他一同上了草皮。
This wasn't anything more than plain, hard racing. So finger-pointing at
Verstappen post-race is just unfair. Verstappen was actually the innocent
victim in that incident, which demoted him from his fourth place at the start
down to eighth.
这一切不过都只是正常、激烈的赛车，因此在赛后对于Verstappen说三道四实在是很不公
平。Verstapeen在该事件中根本是无辜的受害者罢了，该事件也导致他从第四名跌落至第
八名。
From there, Verstappen's move on Bottas consigned him to a race of
recovery, but there was nothing wrong with that. It was a lovely overtake and -
again - good, hard racing. Yes, it was aggressive, but Bottas has no right to
be complaining about it.
从那之后，Verstappen会对于Bottas做出超车一举只是因为他要拯救那场比赛，而且该举
动也一点错都没有。那是次漂亮的超车，很好、很激烈的赛车。的确，那个举动很“凶”
，但Bottas根本没有权利对此抱怨。
Does Verstappen deserve his reputation?
Verstappen会有如此名声是他应得的吗？
When you actually analyse the last year and a half of Verstappen's career,
since Canada 2018, he has been brilliant, and at least as fair as most of his
rivals around him.
当你仔细分析Verstappen自从2018年加拿大分站后一年半以来的表现，他表现得非常杰出
，至少与大多数他周围的车手有同等公平。
The sad truth for him is that he is carrying the reputation along with him
that he earned in his early Formula 1 career, when he arrived as a raw
17-year-old with only a year's experience in car racing under his belt.
对于他不利的事实是，他仍然扛着他F1早期所得来的坏名声。在他进入F1时，他还是个只
有一年赛车经验的17岁年轻人。
Looking at some of the incidents of recent times, it is other drivers
generally at fault:
让我们看看Verstappen最近的几次事故，通常反而是其他车手的错：
Vettel's Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc punted Verstappen out of third
place on the first lap in Japan earlier this month and received a penalty for
doing so.
这月稍早，Charles Leclerc在日本赛的第一圈中将Verstappen撞至赛道外并且因此受罚
。
Vettel crashed into the back of Verstappen, depriving him of third place and
was heavily penalised at the British Grand in June.
七月的英国大奖赛中，Vettel从后撞上Verstappen导致后者损失第三名，Vettel因此遭
受严重逞罚。
Both Ferrari drivers have been happy this year to drive Hamilton on to the
grass in a straight-line, an obviously unfair and potentially dangerous move
- Leclerc during the Italian Grand Prix Monza, and Vettel at the start in
Mexico.
两位法拉利车手 - Vettel和Leclerc都曾在直线中将Hamilton逼至草地上，如此行为既
不公平又非常危险。(Leclerc于意大利大奖赛，Vettel于墨西哥大奖赛)
Leclerc's predecessor at Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen, punted Hamilton off at the
start in Silverstone and was penalised for it.
Raikkonen仍在法拉利时于英国大奖赛在起跑时与Hamilton撞车，并因此受罚。
Vettel punted off Bottas at the start of the French Grand Prix last year and
was penalised.
Vettel于去年法国大奖赛起跑时与Bottas撞车并因此受罚。
The only real misdemeanour Verstappen has made has been beating Leclerc to
the win in Austria by driving him wide on the exit of Turn Three - a move not
as bad as either Vettel's or Leclerc's in Mexico or Italy, and one that,
while it could have gone either way, the stewards deemed legal.
Verstappen唯一一次行为不检是在位于奥地利大奖赛争冠期间逼迫Leclerc在三号弯跑偏。
但是该次行为根本不及Vettel及Leclerc于墨西哥及意大利来的糟，而且该行为被赛事裁判
们认为合法(尽管判罚与否几乎是50:50)。
Verstappen's move on Bottas in Mexico was the only overtake any of the
front-runners could put on each other in the entire Grand Prix. He was simply
unlucky to pick up a puncture for it. And his recovery drive was incredible.
Verstappen对Bottas的超车就整场比赛下来看，其实还是领跑三队唯一一次超车，他因此
发生爆胎仅仅是运气不好罢了。另外他事后的recovery非常令人难以置信。
After driving around for an entire lap on three wheels, Verstappen finally
emerged from the pits on lap six a full minute behind race leader Leclerc.
在以三颗轮胎开完以整圈后，Verstappen出站时已整整落后领跑者Leclerc长达一分钟。
After a further 66 laps, having passed 14 cars, most of which were on track
with some spirited moves that at times were arguably a bit too risky, he
ended up 68 seconds away from the race winner Lewis Hamilton, and pretty much
still a minute behind Leclerc.
在开完剩下的66圈，超越了14台车(大多数都是在赛道上完成，某些时候可能稍微风险大了
点)后，他最终落后分站冠军Hamilton 68秒、落后Leclerc一分钟。
Verstappen also completed 67 laps at good pace, on a single set of hard
tyres, that put Hamilton's 'miracle' 48-lap stint into a relative perspective.
Verstappen同时也仅用一套硬胎、以非常不错的速度跑完67圈，让Hamilton“奇蹟的”48
圈相形见绌。
Paying the price for a foolish error
为一次愚笨的错误付出代价
Verstappen's Sunday was purely unlucky. But his weekend began to unravel
because of his foolish moment on Saturday, and subsequent petulance in the
news conference. That is what cost him a likely victory.
Verstappen的正赛非常的不幸，但他的周末在他星期六愚蠢的瞬间即记者会中过分的自性
就开始急转直下。这就是导致他失去一站很有可能拿下的分站的原因。
Had Verstappen followed the rules at the end of qualifying, he would have
been on pole position, not next to Hamilton at the start. He never would have
needed to pass Bottas, and he had the pace to win this Grand Prix at a canter.
假设Verstappen在排位赛结束时有遵守规则，他将以杆位起跑，而非在Hamilton旁边。
他将永远没必要超过Bottas，同时也拥有非常足够的速度赢得分站。
Verstappen is one of the outright fastest drivers out there, as each of his
three Red Bull team-mates in the last year can attest.
Verstappen是目前最快的车手之一，他过去一年内的三位队友便可证明此事。
So what went wrong?
所以哪里出错了？
His initial pole lap in Mexico was superb, underlining his pace, and putting
team-mate Alexander Albon in the shade.
Verstappen一开始的杆位单圈非常出色，不仅强调了他的速度，更让他的队友Alex Albon
的成绩显得毫不起眼。
At the end of the session, attempting to improve on his time, he kept his
foot to the floor past Bottas' crashed Mercedes, when yellow flags were
flying. That was foolish and cost him the pole he was so desperate for.
在该节的尾端时，他想要提高它的成绩，因此他在经过Bottas时仍保持全油门。这个举动
很笨，也因此让他失去了他非常想要的杆位。
All drivers are aware of the rules when it comes to passing yellow flags. It
has been ingrained in them for years. You have to back off.
所有车手都非常清楚经过黄旗时的相关规定。这项规则已经行之有年了，你必须放慢。
I was given exactly the same penalty as Verstappen in China 2017, after
Antonio Giovinazzi hit the wall in his Sauber.
我(Palmer)在2017年中国站时也曾被给予相同处罚，就在Giovinazzi开Sauber撞墙时。
I thought I might get away with it, because I did actually lift off past the
incident and had no time on the board anyway, so either way it was a risk I
had to take. Haas driver Romain Grosjean received an identical penalty at the
time, and the message became perfectly clear.
我当时以为可以逃过一劫，因为我当时确实松开油门了，加上当时还没做出成绩，因此我
必须赌赌看。当时Hass的Romain Grojean也受到了同样的处罚，因此这项罚则变的相当明
确。
Since then, there have been other cases of drivers improving under yellows,
but they are getting rarer and rarer, and are usually involving someone, like
Grosjean and me in 2017, who has no time on the board and therefore nothing
to lose.
从那之后，仍然有些许车手想在黄旗底下拼单圈的个案，但越来约稀少，而且通常都是那
几位车手，像是2017年的我跟Grojean。
Verstappen in fact picked up the same penalty for the same crime in Sochi
last year, but that was in a nothing-to-lose context - he was going to start
from the back regardless.
事实上Verstappen去年在索契也受过相同处罚，但那次他没什么好损失的，因为不论如何
他都将从排尾起跑。
However, in Mexico, Verstappen had everything to lose and nothing to gain.
然而在墨西哥，Verstappen这么做会损失一切，同时也没什么可以获得的。
But he wouldn't necessarily have known that. In the cockpit, he probably
thought Bottas' crash was going to cost him pole, as his rivals might improve
and he wouldn't be able to. That is the only mindset that makes sense here,
and therefore Red Bull could have helped him out from the pit wall.
但他当时也不尽然完全了解情况。在驾驶舱内，他八成想着Bottas的撞车会让他赔掉杆位
，因为他的对手可以提升成绩，而他不行。这是他没减速的唯一合理解释。在这种情况下
，红牛的工程师们是可以帮他了解情况的。
Albon and Leclerc came through and didn't improve before Bottas crashed.
Hamilton was close enough to Bottas to not have yellow flags when he came
through the crash site, but was slower in the final sector anyway.
Albon和Leclerc在Bottas撞车前完成了单圈，但都没有进步；Hamilton则是因为太接近
Bottas导致他在黄旗开始挥舞之前就通过事故地点，然而他仍然在第三区间慢了。
But Red Bull would have known the rules as much as the drivers, and they
should have just told Verstappen to abort the lap as soon as the crash
happened, because it was clear that his pole lap was going to be unrivalled
anyway by that point.
红牛当然会知道规则，而且他们也应该在事故发生当下马上通知Verstappen放弃该单圈，
因为在当时Verstappen的杆位已经确定不会再有挑战者了。
The team would have been able to see, but Verstappen in the car would have
been unaware - hence his keeping his foot in past the yellow flag.
车队当时是可以看见撞车状况的，而Verstappen在车内无法知道，因此他最终仍然保持全
油门通过。
But this doesn't excuse Verstappen, who should have known he had to back off
anyway, as Sebastian Vettel had done ahead.
但这不能是Verstappen的任何借口，不论如何他当时都应该放慢了，就像Vettel之前做的
一样。
What was surprising is that it seemed to take Verstappen's comments in the
media to spark an investigation at all.
令人讶异的是，似乎是Verstappen对于记者的回答才让官方开启调查。
This was where the Dutchman really dug his own grave and forced the hand of
the FIA, who by this point had no choice but to investigate and subsequently
penalise the Red Bull man.
这就是荷兰人自己挖坑给自己跳了。FIA这是别无选择只能调查该事件，最终处罚了红牛
车手。
Clearly on the defence under questioning as to why he had not lifted off,
Verstappen was rattled and reeled off a load of curt answers that were both
an admission of guilt and a scant disregard for safety at the same time.
显然，在被质疑他为什么没有放慢时，Verstappen很不高兴，并提出了一系列既不认罪
又不顾安全的简短回答。
A driver acting more cleverly might have been able to avoid the questions
better than Verstappen, or certainly not answer them as directly as he did.
一个更聪明的车手应该可以比Verstappen更好的回避这个问题，至少不用像他回答得如此
直接。
He also seemed unaware at this point as to what the rules were - not only by
plainly breaking them in the action of keeping his foot down, but also by
suggesting that if he were found guilty he would just have that final lap
time deleted.
在这一点上，他似乎还不知道规则是什么。他不仅是在没放油门的行为上明目张胆地打破
了规则，而且还以为如果被判有罪，他也只会被删除最后一圈时间。
That is the penalty for being guilty of exceeding track limits on a
qualifying lap, not for driving flat out past a crashed car, as he had found
out a year previous in Russia.
那是超出赛道限制的罚则，不是全油门通过撞车地点的罚则。他在去年俄罗斯站就该体会
过。
Judge Verstappen for now, not then
用现在的Verstappen评断他，而非用过去的他
With his aggressive driving, and bullish remarks he makes himself arguably
the most polarising driver on the grid at the moment.
凭借他的积极进取和乐观的言论，他可以说是目前闱场内评价最两极分化的车手。
It was only a year and a half ago, after all, that he declared that he would
punch in the face the next reporter who asked him about his series of early
2018 accidents.
毕竟就在一年半前，他曾表明将与下一位向他询问他开车风格的记者决胜负。
But the reality is that in Mexico one error of judgement cost him, and made
him an easy target for those around him and the media to harp back to the old
version of him.
但现实情况是，在墨西哥，一个错误的判断使他付出了代价，并使他成为周围人和媒体轻
松追随他的旧版本的目标。
Qualifying in Mexico did highlight that there is a level of immaturity to
him, on and off the track. But Verstappen is still only 22; there's plenty of
time to mature.
在墨西哥的排位赛确实突显了他在赛道上和赛道外的不成熟程度。但是Verstappen仍然只
有22岁。他还有很多时间可以成熟。
Ultimately he is one of the best and certainly most entertaining drivers out
there. While he has certainly had a chequered past in F1, right now he still
cops a lot of flack he doesn't deserve, from both his fellow drivers and the
media.
不论如何，他仍然属于最强的一群车手之中，当然也是最有趣的车手之一。尽管他无疑在
F1上经历了一段艰难的过去，但现在他仍然从他的对手和媒体那里应对了很多他不应该得
到的批评。