Jean-Éric Vergne wishes that his fellow drivers would think a little longer before making certain moves on track. The Frenchman had a difficult Saturday in London, finishing P17 after being involved in incidents with Jake Dennis and Jehan Daruvula.
Vergne started the race from P5, hoping to make it to the podium for the fourth time this season. He had a solid race start, but fell back massively after an incident with Dennis in the sixth lap of the race. He managed to drive back into the top ten, but eventually finished P17 after having a moment with Daruvula, for which he received a 5-second time penalty.
“I got taken out by Dennis, I lost so many positions”, Vergne said to Pit Debrief on the Saturday in London. “I had a very good race, I came back in a very strong position. When I took attack mode, Daruvula didn’t seem to see me and I had to brake. I was following him for two laps and I could see that he was braking quite early. At some point I was committed, and I went for it. He saw it in the mirror and just decided to not lose the position.”
“The problem is that it takes two to tango, and when you’re committed to an overtake like I was… What he did was not very smart, I think”, the DS Penske driver stated. “As a result, he lost out as much as I did. You race with smarter drivers sometimes, and maybe I should have known. I mean, when Rowland did a move at the beginning on the inside of T4, I think I knew enough to give up that position and to say: ‘Okay, I lost the position and I will get it back later in the race.’ If I had that mentality, both our races would have been finished at that corner. I wish more drivers were a bit smarter, that’s for sure.”
