After coming out with just 5 loot points from the Great Britain-Hungary combo but still regaining the championship lead, Max Verstappen will again go out of his way at the next round on the calendar as the predominant culprit at Monza.
At Monza, the World Cup has suffered several overturns in a matter of a few laps: While Max Verstappen lost the lead to future Italian Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo, # 33 retained serious options to cut points from Lewis Hamilton after # 44’s hit in qualifying at the sprint of Saturday.
Nevertheless, an 11 second stop Red Bull put at risk the position of Verstappen, who went wheel-to-wheel with Hamilton and Norris after a combination of factors that ended in the worst way for the title contenders: double retirement after the second corner of the Italian circuit .
Everything did not end there, since the FIA chose to investigate what happened after the race, and it has been. As expressed in a statement, the Formula 1 councilors have considered that Verstappen is the main culprit in the action, condemning him with 3 penalties facing Sochi.
OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION FIA
Stewards have determined that Car # 33 was the main culprit in the collision with Car # 44 at Turn 2.
Car # 44 was leaving boxes. Car # 33 was on the main straight. On the 50m line before Turn 1, car # 44 was significantly ahead of car # 33. Car # 33 braked late and began to pull alongside car # 44, although at no time did it get past the front wheel of car # 44.
During the meeting, Max Verstappen claimed that the cause of the incident was that Lewis Hamilton opened the steering after Turn 1 and “pushed” him to the apex of Turn 2. Hamilton claimed that Verstappen attempted the overtaking very late and that he should have yielded in the curve dropping before or turning left after passing the piano.
The stewards have observed in the images that Hamilton made a line to avoid the incident, although his position caused Verstappen’s car to go towards the curb. But in addition, the stewards have observed that Verstappen’s car was not wheel-to-wheel with Hamilton’s at all until well before the entrance of Turn 1.
In the opinion of the stewards, this maneuver was attempted too late by Verstappen to be “entitled to a space”. While Hamilton’s car could have turned past the curb to avoid the accident, the stewards have determined that his position was reasonable and therefore find Verstappen the main culprit.
Regarding the sanction, the commissioners emphasize that they have only considered the incident itself, and not the consequences of it.