I genuinely don’t think he could have. At the point he could see that MVS was coming through and the line he was going to take was such that there was no space for him to go I don’t think he could have braked hard enough mid corner to make a car length of difference and either follow him or go to his inside.
But it was clear what was happening way before mid corner.
The previous lap, Leclerc had done an outstanding job of making his car wide on the run up to that turn, but in doing so he compromised his exit slightly and Verstappen went for the cutback to maximise his exit speed and nearly made it work. But with this move he would always be behind all the way through the corner so he had to leave room for Leclerc and go for the drag race down the hill.
But next time round, Leclerc defended all the way to the outside and left the inside open. Max took it, he took it early, and it was obvious what was going to happen. If you come up the inside, you compromise your exit speed, so you ensure you compromise the other guy’s exit too. You can’t compromise your exit speed even further by taking a tight line on entry and exit just to give the other guy a free ride.
Leclerc would have known this well before turning in. It’s not tricky stuff, it’s stuff you pick up when you’re starting out in karts. These two have been racing each other for years and it’s not like Max won’t go for an open door.
The issues we have are twofold: firstly the tarmac runoffs encourage drivers to try and drive round the outside regardless of what’s happening; and secondly the rules mean that whenever anyone’s racing line is compromised they’re obliged to moan about it to try and get points. Both of these things suck.
But once the door was open and Max had committed, his car was always going to end up going deep into the corner, just as it should be.
