Palmer: "Don't think Max would have driven away five seconds from Lewis"

Track limits

Jolyon Palmer also shines his light on the race in Bahrain, and specifically the battle between Max and Lewis, through his video analysis for Formula1.com. On the infamous overtaking action of the Dutchman, he says: "Max had already passed, but due to oversteer he had to correct the car, which took him off track with four wheels. Now the track limits rules were very vague throughout the weekend, but what race director Michael Masi did state before the weekend was that you were not allowed to gain a lasting advantage by going off-track through overtaking."

Michael Masi

According to Palmer, Masi had indicated that a little time gain was not a problem, but gaining a lasting advantage was. "Mercedes did gain about a tenth per lap by not adhering to track limits. So it is a permanent advantage, but that was not the intention of the rules this race." Red Bull Racing indicated to Max Verstappen during the race that he no longer needed to adhere to track limits either, after which Mercedes did get a reprimand, much to Hamilton's dismay.

"Then the rules were changed during the race. This while Lewis Hamilton was already not adhering to the track limits during the installation and warm-up laps. So it was clearly his intention. Unfortunately, Red Bull's intentions were different," said Palmer.

The end

Why was Verstappen unable to catch Hamilton's Mercedes after that? Palmer: "It was very sweet that Max let Lewis pass after turn 11. He had to go on the dirty part of the track because of this. But because of the tyre situation of both teams, Max could have easily won the position back. However, two oversteer moments in the next few corners allowed Lewis to pull away and Max to blow his rear tires. As a result, he could not really get close to Lewis anymore. Max said after the race that he had pulled away from Lewis by as much as five seconds, but I doubt it given the state of his tyres."