Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have avoided a penalty for their late race collision in Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix after the FIA concluded that no driver was predominantly to blame.
However, the stewards did conclude that Hamilton could have “done more” to avoid the coming together.
The Mercedes and Red Bull driver were battling for third place on lap 63 of the race when Verstappen made an attempt to draft past his rival under braking for Turn 1.
As Hamilton moved across to turn into the corner, Verstappen locked up and ran deep at the opening corner – with his left rear wheel tagging the W15’s front right.
The impact pitched Verstappen’s RB20 into the air and he bounced into the run-off area before managing to recover and return to the track. Hamilton went on to finish third, with his Dutch rival coming home fifth.
While Hamilton felt that the matter was just a racing incident, Verstappen saw things differently and claimed his competitor had illegally moved under braking – something he was widely criticised for at the Austrian GP.
“I got a lot of shit thrown at me in Austria with people saying moving under braking, blah blah blah,” said Verstappen.
“I am positioning my car on the initial movement and then I keep it straight. Today, under braking, he just kept turning to the right and that is why I also locked up, because I was going for the move.
“But I saw the car on the outside kept coming at me. Otherwise, we would’ve already crashed before. I had to stop the car so that is why I locked up.”
The stewards did not agree with Verstappen’s criticisms about Hamilton’s driving and, after studying video, timing and telemetry data, concluded that the seven-time champion had driven within the boundaries of the rules.
However, they did note that Hamilton could have perhaps done more to avoid the collision once it became clear that Verstappen was alongside him.
In a statement issued by the stewards, the FIA said: “On the approach to Turn 1, both Car 44 [Hamilton] and Car 1 [Verstappen] overtook Car 23 [Alex Albon].
“Car 44 returned to the racing line before the braking zone and commenced to turn into Turn 1. Car 1 approached the turn faster than on previous laps (due to DRS) and braked at the same point as previously.
“The driver of Car 1 argued that Car 44 was changing direction under braking. The driver of Car 44 stated that he was simply following his normal racing line (which was confirmed by examination of video and telemetry evidence of previous laps).
“It was clear that Car 1 locked up both front wheels on the approach to Turn 1 prior to any impact occurring but missing the normal cornering line for a typical overtaking manoeuvre.
“The driver of Car 44 stated that this was a racing incident, whilst the driver of Car 1 argued that this was a case of changing direction under braking.
“The Stewards do not consider this to be a typical case of “changing direction under braking” although it is our determination that the driver of Car 44 could have done more to avoid the collision.
“Accordingly, we determine that no driver was predominantly to blame and decide to take no further action.”
Additional reporting by Ronald Vording
