Copyright yardbarker
But when it came to turn four, he believed Hamilton should have been hit with a 10-second penalty. In his view, Hamilton didn’t do enough to give back the advantage he gained by leaving the track. “For me, Max had done enough to claim the corner because he has to be alongside Lewis’ mirror at the apex,” said Brundle. “In fact, he was slightly ahead of his front axle. He owned the corner; he’s then entitled to take a normal racing line.” “Did he dive? Was it overoptimistic? That’s in the regulations and this is the grey area where you need a referee to make the decision. You could also call that motor racing – you’ve got to dive up the inside of somebody to actually overtake them.” “It’s very grey and overall Lewis left the door open a little bit. Max went for it, was under control, didn’t lock his front axle up. Therefore won the corner and was entitled to take the racing line.” Max Verstappen’s early collision with Lewis Hamilton ruled a racing incident Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen came together during the opening stages of the Mexican Grand Prix as Verstappen tried to overtake, but the stewards decided there was no fault to assign. After a chaotic start left Hamilton in third and Verstappen just behind in fourth, the Dutchman tried to take advantage early on. Spotting an opening at turn one, he made a move that caught Hamilton off guard. The two drivers made contact, and Hamilton claimed over team radio that Verstappen had forced him wide. The battle carried on down towards turn four, with George Russell also getting involved in the scrap. Hamilton ended up locking up and cut across the grass before rejoining with a gap ahead of him. However, he was handed a penalty for gaining an advantage by leaving the track. Martin Brundle backs stewards’ call on Verstappen but says penalty for Hamilton should’ve been stronger Speaking on Sky Sports’ F1 Show podcast, Martin Brundle gave his view on how it was handled by officials. He believes Verstappen had done enough to claim the corner from Hamilton. Rather than seeing it as an overoptimistic move from Verstappen, Brundle felt it was simply part of hard racing and agreed with the stewards’ call not to issue a penalty. However, when it came to turn four, Brundle felt differently. He thought Hamilton deserved a 10-second penalty because he didn’t do enough to return any time gained after cutting across. Brundle wasn’t impressed by how Max handled things right off the line either. Verstappen found himself outside and locked up before going onto the grass but didn’t lose much ground when it all played out.
