Max Verstappen produced one moment Jolyon Palmer had ‘never seen’ before at the Mexican Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen narrowly avoided a disaster on lap one of the Mexican Grand Prix as he diced with danger at turn one.

The Dutchman made a misjudgment in the opening stages of the race, but was able to continue and was battling with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton before long. Red Bull’s decision to start him on the medium tyre made for a pretty difficult first stint, which cost him some time.

But Verstappen was mega in the second half of the race, and managed to extract as much from the soft tyre as anyone did at the Mexican Grand Prix. His podium helped to keep his slender drivers’ championship hopes alive for another two weeks.

Martin Brundle says Verstappen didn’t deserve a penalty for a clash he had with Hamilton, which resulted in the Briton receiving a 10-second time penalty. Not everyone agrees, though, as fans felt Verstappen deserved a penalty for his role in the matter.

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton reacts to Max Verstappen collision in unbroadcast Mexican Grand Prix radio

Jolyon Palmer loved Max Verstappen’s ‘sublime’ car control on lap one at the Mexican Grand Prix

Verstappen admitted he almost crashed in Mexico, after sliding off the track at turn one on lap one, narrowly avoiding the barriers. A retirement would have seen him trail Oscar Piastri by 52 points had he found a way into the wall.

That’s a massive swing in the title race, and means that his save was really significant. As Jolyon Palmer analyses on F1 TV, there was a lot more to his ‘sublime’ reactions than there may appear to be from the outside.

“But what I love here is the car control,” he said. “It looks so cool from Verstappen, who is heading so far out wide. I’ve never seen anyone just legitimately hit that barrier.

“But look how long and aggressively he is turning to the left here. This is some sublime car control there. That is Verstappen on full opposite lock, drifting it [with] the barrier fast-approaching. He’s just holding it, holding it, holding it like speedway.

“But you never sense that he panicked, and he comes back on with not even a metre to the wall and then remembers where he was, fourth in the queue, gives up a place to Hamilton through the next corner, as well.”

READ MORE: Max Verstappen was denied a ‘huge’ opportunity in the F1 title fight at the Mexican Grand Prix

How Max Verstappen did the right thing after cutting turn one at the Mexican Grand Prix

Verstappen admitted he wasn’t as fast as Norris, and couldn’t have matched the McLaren in clean air in Mexico, after he won by over 30 seconds.

The reigning champion could have finished a lot closer to him if he had opted against letting Hamilton past after cutting turn one, though.

In the end, he opted to do the right thing and avoided a penalty for it, but he did get swallowed up in the midfield a bit.

That could have cost him at least 10 seconds come the end of the race, which comfortably would have seen him finish second instead of third. But, he’ll have to be satisfied to be taking a trophy home this time.