It has been quite a busy weekend for the stewards at Interlagos, with a lot of controversies revolving around the two championship-contending teams, Red Bull and Mercedes. And the latest to face the wrath of the Lewis Hamilton fans was the race director, Michael Masi when he gave out a verdict in favor of Max Verstappen during the race.
The two championship rivals were putting up an insane show of racing for the F1 fans around the world, but things escalated quite a bit; Verstappen seemingly pushed Hamilton off the track around turn 4 in a bid to stop the Briton from snatching the lead.
The commentators, David Croft and Martin Brundle were certain that a time penalty was imminent for Verstappen. In fact, the whole of Mercedes garage sensed it too, as Valtteri Bottas’ race engineer demanded him to get within the 5-second range of Verstappen.
However, after noting down the incident, there was just no response from the stewards. Things were awfully quiet. But, after the “let them race” opinion from Red Bull to Masi, the final decision popped up – No investigation necessary.
Why did Max Verstappen escape the penalty at Interlagos?
From a spectator’s perspective, it did look like Verstappen forced Hamilton off the track. Moreover, there was a brief moment where the nose of the Mercedes W12 was slightly ahead of Verstappen’s Red Bull. But, here’s why the stewards might have downplayed the case.
One must consider the fact that neither of the drivers came in contact. Had Hamilton suffered damage to his car, the stewards would definitely have launched an investigation and handed Verstappen a penalty for ‘causing a collision’. But, in reality, that did not happen.
Then, the other point is that Verstappen was ahead when he reached the exit kerb around turn 4. Hence, Verstappen clearly had control of the racing line, and had the freedom of pushing Hamilton away. Then, finally, the ‘forcing off the track’ claim.
Did Verstappen force Hamilton off the track?
Yes, it looked like the Dutchman gave a bit of a wobble to the right, but who knows, it could’ve been due to the massive sliding most of the drivers were complaining of.
So, Verstappen’s action just wasn’t penalty-worthy, and the stewards might have thought so too. Moreover, we’ve seen much worse battles in the past, from Michael Schumacher and even Ayrton Senna, who Hamilton looks up to as an idol.
So, having come across such controversial incidents, penalizing a driver over an incident that hardly damaged either of the cars would sound a bit too petty.
But, it all turned out well in the end; Hamilton beat Verstappen on absolute merit, completing a clinical performance-induced weekend in Brazil.
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