Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc left a fierce fight during the last part of the Saudi Arabian race , getting ahead several times and playing with passing behind each other at the DRS detection point to take advantage of the device on the main straight and take the first position.
The battle itself was enjoyed by all the fans, not only those of the Ferrari driver and the Red Bull driver, but anyone who values racing. And as if that were not enough, now a video has emerged that increases the epic of the confrontation.
And it is that while chasing the Monegasque (who made the overtaking that gave him the victory on lap 47, three from the end) he suffered an unexpected setback, but not entirely strange. One of Leclerc’s helmet visor sheets, those plastic strips that drivers remove during the race, got stuck on the right side of the front of the Ferrari F1-75.
Since it was in his angle of vision and he had it within reach, Verstappen spent almost an entire lap, at more than 300 km / h, trying to remove the plastic with his left hand while with his right he traced the Jeddah Corniche street circuit. People began to talk about it on social networks and finally F1 itself uploaded it to Twitter and Instagram .
Video: Verstappen one-handed in the Saudi Arabia race
What are the tear-offs, those plastic strips on the F1 drivers’ helmets?
The tear-offs (in English) are the sheets that cover the front part of the helmet of the pilots, right in front of their eyes. They are obviously transparent, and several layers are installed so that they can be removed during the grand prix when they get stained with oil, debris, dust or any other type of dirt. Or just if they get too wet.
Those plastic strips have been many other times negative protagonists. For example, it caused a brake problem that caused Fernando Alonso to abandon the 2015 Spanish GP by obstructing the ducts, and after that, McLaren (the Asturian team at the time) asked for a review of the rules.
For the start of the 2016 season, drivers were prohibited from removing these protectors from the visors of their helmets, forcing them to either remove them only during stops in the pitlane or deposit them inside the cockpit.
“Any sticker attached to the visor may not be thrown onto the track or onto the pit lane,” read the technical directive issued by the FIA.
Later he would again allow himself to take them off at any time, and the problems returned. The last example, that of Verstappen in Saudi Arabia, which fortunately did not leave any damage and an epic driving scene.
