The Fight • Max Verstappen•

•twenty-seven•

SCARLET

If they call Monza the 'Temple of Speed' then Imola should be renamed the Sanctum of Safety Cars, as we had spent more time under the two safety cars, and one virtual safety car than we had racing.

Mick spun his Haas out on lap two and took out Esteban and Lance whilst doing so, luckily nobody had been injured but that brought out the first safety car which lasted for seven laps. I was surprised that the race was not red flagged, but then again, the FIA aren't the most reliable and Michael Masi was about as intelligent as a headless chicken.

By the time we had the virtual safety car on lap 21 I had pitted for mediums and was making good track times, although it did bring my lead down from 7.1 seconds to a measly 1.2.

I managed to retain P1 up until lap 47 when George made a lucky lunge through turn 5 as we approached turn 6. Although moments later we were brought under another safety car.

I dropped my speed to the requirement and began following George. In my mirrors I could see the Red Bull of Daniel, which just goes to show just how important qualifying is here.
"Bono what's happening?" I asked as I weaved the car to keep the tires up to temperature. "BONO?!" I shouted louder as I saw smoke in the distance. "Is everyone ok?"

"AND THEY'VE CRASHED!"

"That is one nasty collision between the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the McLaren of Pierre Gasly. I have no idea what either of them thought they were doing; everyone knows two doesn't go into one. Watching it back it appears that Verstappen had track position, but it was only gained by pushing Gasly wide. This will no doubt be investigated further given that this is the second race in a row Verstappen has attempted that move. "

Lewis came onto the radio to inform me that there was a crash, but he wasn't sure who was involved. "Just focus on the race, once the safety car comes in, George will pick his moment to race off, but you need to stick close to him. You can still win this."

I wanted this win but with only 6 laps left of the race it wasn't looking positive. On top of that, the 1-2 finish would be perfect for the constructors championship team no matter who won. Bono came onto the radio to tell me that the safety car would be exiting on this lap.
As we passed the pitlane and the safety car left the track I watched the back of George's car intently, my foot pushed lightly on the throttle pedal. The car weaved through turns 14 and 15 of Rivassa, this was when George launched himself away from the pack to build up speed before the straight.

My reaction to his launch was perfectly in-sync but I knew that the best chance to overtake would be on the next lap, so I made sure that I was just outside of DRS capabilities. "Daniel is approaching he is now 1.2 seconds behind. You need to press on George."

"Am I free to race George?" I inquired as I drew closer to my teammate. "He either needs to pick up the pace, or I'm overtaking him next chance!"

"Crusoe is putting in a faster lap time than Russell, but with only 2 laps remaining you can't imagine that Mercedes will appreciate a risky overtake move that could take both out of the race. Meanwhile it doesn't appear that Ricciardo is going to push, he's sitting comfortably in P3 in clean air, and with no pressure from Norris in P4.

"SHE'S GOING FOR IT; SCARLET CRUSOE MAKES A BOLD MOVE ALONGSIDE HER TEAMMATE DOWN THE STRAIGHT. SHE'S DONE IT, SCARLET CRUSOE RETAKES THE LEAD OF THE RACE. SHE MADE THAT LOOK EFFORTLESS."