Max Verstappen escapes F1 penalty as race control fails to take action in collision with Lewis Hamilton | F1
Max Verstappen escaped a penalty from the F1 commissioners following his incident with Lewis Hamilton at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The 2021 F1 title rivals met on lap 63 at the Hungaroring and fought for third place.
Verstappen tried to overtake Hamilton on the inside at Turn 1.
The Dutchman locked his front tires, which led to a collision with Hamilton.
Verstappen was thrown through the air and went off the track, but was able to continue and eventually finished fifth.
The three-time world champion protested his innocence after the race, insisting that the maneuver was “completely intentional” and that Hamilton swerved while braking.
The Mercedes driver laughed at Verstappen’s criticism and secured the 200th F1 podium of his career.
The race management decided not to take any action because “no driver was primarily at fault”.
However, they noted that Hamilton “could have done more to avoid the collision.”
The statement read: “On the approach to Turn 1, both Car 44 and Car 1 overtook Car 23. Car 44 returned to the racing line before the braking zone and began to turn into Turn 1.
“Car 1 approached the corner faster than on previous laps (due to DRS) and braked in the same place as before. The driver of Car 1 argued that Car 44 changed direction while 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 both front wheels on the approach to the first corner before impact, but missed the normal cornering line for a typical overtaking manoeuvre.
“The driver of Car 44 stated that it was a racing accident, while the driver of Car 1 argued that it was a change of direction while braking.
“The race director does not consider this to be a typical case of a ‘change of direction under braking’, although we conclude that the driver of car 44 could have done more to avoid the collision.
“We therefore assume that no driver is primarily to blame and have decided not to take any further action.”
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