The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was one of the most controversial in recent times due to the contact between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, who will reach the final race in Abu Dhabi tied on points.
The Dutch driver tried to give up the position to the British in one of the huge Jeddah straights, however, the Mercedes driver could not avoid the crash and they ended up touching. The radios began to smoke, and the FIA decided to penalize the Red Bull driver with five seconds.
Verstappen did not agree with what happened, as did Helmut Marko , adviser to the Austrian team: “I think we can prove that Max was consistent at the moment of braking and Hamilton measured poorly.”
“In the manoeuvre, we had a little cut in the tire so we couldn’t go fast again. After that Hamilton ran Max off the track, so it seems the rules are a bit different here,” he said.
“We’re going to look into all of that and then we’ll present whatever arguments we have to the stewards. What Max has shown today with his driving speaks for itself, it was a masterful performance.”
The energy drink team member went on to praise his driver : “The second start was amazing, but in the rule it says you can’t leave a gap of more than ten cars to warm up the wheels, and that’s what Hamilton did.” .
“We want to gather as much information as possible, but there seems to be a different interpretation of the rules for different people,” he said. “We are going to see what the facts show, we are not going to accept that the decision was arbitrary, but that it was different.”
“We will go to the last race after this, but what has happened is something rare to see. This was the ideal place for Mercedes, although we were fast, and the circumstances were against us, maybe the result will be reviewed,” he said. .
During the red flag period, the FIA’s negotiations with the Red Bull team were heard to decide on a possible penalty for Verstappen and to organize the starting grid.
Marko had his say: “It was a completely new situation, I thought the rules were fixed somewhere, and they have made offers during the race itself. If Max drives to the limit against Hamilton, it’s a penalty, but if Lewis pushes him out of track, it’s just an overtaking attempt, it can’t go on like this”.
