Crossing the white line: USA

You know what they say about assuming…

It should’ve been a penalty Fernando Alonso’s late flurry of overtakes in the closing laps at the United States Grand Prix were great for the Spaniard and his stock in Formula 1. Not so great for Felipe Massa.

The double World Champ was on a flier as he closed up on Massa in the battle for sixth and gave the Brazilian a good shove as he overtook.

However, as Williams chief technical officer Pat Symonds put it, Alonso “used Felipe as a brake” as he dived up the inside at Turn 16, made contact, and pushed both drivers wide at the exit.

He took P6.

It was a “yeehaw” for Alonso and confusion for Williams, and others, as to why Alonso did not receive a penalty for forcing another driver off the track.

Even Toro Rosso told Carlos Sainz, who lost P5 to his compatriot, to stay within 5 seconds of Alonso as they believed the McLaren driver would be penalised.

Why one should never assume Aside from the now infamous ‘Verstappen block’ and his Monaco madness, there is not much that Max Verstappen gets wrong.

He may be 18 years of age but the Dutchman is known for being level headed, mature beyond his years, fast – very fast, technically sound and a driver who makes very few mistakes.

Until the US GP that is.

Now you cannot blame Max entirely. How many times have we heard teams tell a driver to push …

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