Pierre Gasly alleges Max Verstappen 'knew' what he was doing in 'on the limit' tussle : PlanetF1

Pierre Gasly says Max Verstappen’s driving was “on the limit” as he “knew” exactly what he was doing by pushing the Alpine driver onto the wet lines in their Dutch Grand Prix tussle.

Gasly started Sunday’s grand prix at the Zandvoort circuit 12th on the grid but an early switch to intermediate tyres when the rain arrived on the first lap elevated him up the order.

Ahead of pole-sitter Verstappen, the Red Bull driver made his move on the Frenchman on the inside at Turn 1 on Lap 6 with slight contact at the exit of the corner with Verstappen’s front left touching Gasly’s rear right tyre.

Pulling up alongside Gasly into Turn 2, Verstappen made the pass on the inside through the banked Turn 3 with Gasly pushed high onto the wet paint.

Verstappen went on to win the grand prix with Gasly in third for his first grand prix podium in two years.

“It was a wheel-to-wheel battle,” he said of his tussle with the reigning World Champion. “I mean, Max knew that if you push me slightly wider on the paint in the wet, if I put a wheel on there, then I’ll just understeer wide.

“It was on the limit.

“Yeah, if I was in his position, and you’ve got to pass a car, you’ll play with the limit and that’s why you will try. So I’m not too fussy about it.

“It’s just racing. And yeah, close racing.”

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Although Gasly crossed the line in fourth place, the Alpine driver was elevated to third due to Sergio Perez’s penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

That meant that after the red flag restart, the Frenchman had to keep within five seconds of the Red Bull driver which Gasly says is “never easy” to do.

“It’s never easy to stay within five seconds of a Red Bull, that’s for sure,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com. “But I saw the opportunity, I knew what was on the table and yeah, just gave everything I had out there.

“And actually, I expected to struggle a bit more with a warm-up initially, but the conditions were not too bad.

“So, it was pretty much a couple of qualifying laps at the end, which were really rewarding and I can feel what he was feeling: I went through it a couple of laps before with these five-second penalties. I just tried to get everything I could.”

Earlier in the race Gasly also received a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, the driver saying: “I was pretty upset that I got a five-second penalty earlier in the race and I was like ‘OK, now it’s 1-1’, and then, yeah, obviously I tried to push as hard as I could to stay within five seconds, and managed to do it.

“It was a very long race. Very challenging from start to finish and it was greatly executed from all the guys. ”

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