Opinion: Did Verstappen get away with a Penalty?

The first thing to say is what a sensational Grand Prix it was on Sunday. It was one of the greatest F1 races in the V6 turbo-hybrid era. Though was it ruined slightly by a highly controversial move between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc with three laps to go?

We need to take away the emotion of the race and Verstappen’s incredible drive before the incident. I will discuss the rest of the race in F1 Talk tomorrow.

Verstappen went down the inside at turn three and forced Leclerc off the track. The two of them even made wheel to wheel contact. It was investigated after the race and three hours after the chequered flag a decision was eventually made to give Verstappen no penalty and the incident was deemed a ‘racing incident’.

The problem is partly due to the track, because if it was gravel, Leclerc would almost definitely have backed off but instead he can hang in there and try and hold it around the outside, knowing he has a safety barrier to go off the track if he is forced wide.

Imagine if the same move happened at Monaco for instance, you would give up the corner if you were on the outside.

But, it is not Monaco and trying to stick around the outside if absolutely fine. Are you not allowed to try and hang your car around the outside now?

Those saying Leclerc should have backed off to try and get the cutback out of the corner are not entirely correct either. Turn three at Austria is a unique corner because the outside line gives the driver better traction out of the corner compared to the inside, hence why Leclerc left space to the inside and did not try the cutback because there is not as much grip to the inside due to the trajectory of the track.

We saw a very similar move from Verstappen on the previous lap and the only difference was that the Dutchman gave more room to Leclerc on that lap so contact was not made as Leclerc still had a car’s width. Then, the battle continued down towards turn four. Now that was proper racing.

Ultimately, just because you have the inside does not mean you can do whatever you want in the corner, nor do you ‘own’ the corner either. The driver on the outside should be entitled to some space, should he/she decide to hang stay on the outside line. Or are they not simply because they are on the outside line of a corner.

The reasoning from the stewards is pretty poor as well, they don’t really specifically say why they did not award a penalty. It states ‘we do not consider either driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for the incident.’ It is very vague and you could say that very thing for ANY incident involving two drivers when a penalty is not given.

The statement also claims that as both drivers were approaching turn three alongside each other that ‘there was clearly insufficient space to do so.’

Michael Masi (the F1 race director) explained the reasoning behind the decision to give no penalty: “The big difference between the footage I’ve seen of the two is that Nico [Rosberg] looked across on that occasion whereas Max is very much focusing on the corner and getting out of it as quickly as possible.”

This is awful reasoning, so if you are ‘focusing on the corner’ then you can get away with it?

The reason Masi references Nico Rosberg is because in 2016 at the same corner on the final lap, Rosberg was given a 10-second time penalty when he made contact with Lewis Hamilton. Rosberg was on the inside of the corner, just like Verstappen. But the incidents are very different to me anyway so I don’t really know why Masi is comparing the two incidents.

Then, there is the time it took for a decision to be made. In the second Formula 3 race, Robert Shwartzman and Marcus Armstrong hit each other in the last lap and the stewards awarded a penalty straight away, on the very same event. You can also argue whether it’s correct, just like in this one, but they gave a very quick decision.

Yes, Leclerc and Verstappen had media duties and the stewards wanted to speak to each of them but they were still discussing for at least 30 minutes. It should be down to the stewards and not the drivers anyway, they had a drivers steward (Tom Kristiansen yesterday) so there is no need to speak to the drivers really. Make a decision and stick by it.

Of course it’s always better to make the right decision no matter how long it takes but the stewards were always going to lose out because the fans are split down the middle. Even I am unsure if I would have given a 5-second penalty to Verstappen or not.

It really is a tough decision and because I am on the fence. I would probably not give a penalty. It’s also the best decision for the sport because Formula One does not need two out of three races to be decided after the chequered flag has fallen. In that sense, I think the decision was right.

I am just concerned that the stewards have let this go so now we will see similar manoeuvres to what Verstappen did to Leclerc in future races and I don’t want to see that. I would much rather see what we saw on the lap previous to the incident.

Moreover, Leclerc won’t want to take his maiden win through a post-race penalty and Ferrari have already said they will not appeal saying that although they feel the decision is wrong, they think ‘it’s time for F1 to turn a page’ so massive credit to Ferrari for doing that and not taking this case further.

If drivers are now allowed to nudge each other off the track then the decision is fine and if this is modern day racing, than that is fine. But, F1 has given so many penalties for various incidents over the years that I was surprised that a 5-second time penalty was not given.

A new precedent has been set and the stewards will have to stick by it now.