Why Hamilton was penalised over turn four but not turn one in Verstappen clash

The FIA stewards said Lewis Hamilton should have left Max Verstappen space at turn one, but only punished him for leaving the track at turn four.

Hamilton received a 10-second time penalty, which he served during the race, cutting the track at turn four and rejoining ahead of the Red Bull driver.

The incident began when Verstappen dived down the inside of Hamilton at turn one. Although he came from a long way back, the stewards ruled he was sufficiently alongside Hamilton’s car heading into the corner to be entitled to space.

The stewards therefore considered the contact which occured to be Hamilton’s fault. However due to the lack of consequences for either driver they decided not to issue a penalty.

“At the apex, [Verstappen’s] front axle was clearly in front of [Hamilton’s] mirror and therefore Verstappen was entitled to the racing line,” the stewards ruled. “Hamilton remained alongside through the corner, resulting in slight contact between the wheels of both cars. The contact had no consequences for either car.

“Considering that Hamilton had limited opportunity to leave additional space on track, that both cars were side by side throughout the corner and no sporting consequence resulted from the contact and noting that in similar incidents in the past no further action was taken, the stewards determined that the matter falls within a racing incident.”

The battle between the pair continued to turn four, where Verstappen had the inside line ahead of Hamilton. Neither driver made the corner: Hamilton locked up and ran wide and only used part of the return route he was required to take, then came back onto the track ahead of Verstappen.

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Verstappen also left the track but did not run as far wide as Hamilton and did not have to take the same route back onto the circuit. However as he rejoined he forced George Russell wide at the exit of turn five.

The stewards accepted that Hamilton was not able to follow the route back onto the circuit correctly but said he should have not rejoined in front of Verstappen.

“Car 44 [Hamilton] locked brakes on the approach to turn four and went into the run-off area,” the stewards noted. “The stewards determined that the car was carrying too much speed to enable the driver to use the prescribed escape road and for that reason the driver had a justifiable reason for failing to comply with the race director’s instruction. Given the circumstances, the stewards took no further action.”

“However, by leaving the track and cutting the corner, the driver gained a lasting advantage, overtaking [Verstappen] and failing to give back the position thereafter. The standard penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage is therefore imposed.”

Penalty box

Turn one incident

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Turn four incident

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