Stroll and Verstappen exonerated by stewards for "misunderstanding" over practice crash

Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen have been exonerated by the Portuguese Grand Prix stewards following their second practice collision in Portimão.

The Racing Point and Red Bull drivers were summoned to see the panel, which this weekend includes former Formula 1 driver Vitaly Petrov, after their incident with just under 25 minutes remaining of the session at the Algarve International Circuit.

Despite Verstappen accusing Stroll of being "f***ing blind" and Racing Point team principal Otmar Szafnauer criticising the Dutchman for being "ridiculous", the matter has now been brushed under the carpet.

A statement read: "The stewards heard from the driver of car 18 (Lance Stroll), the driver of car 33 (Max Verstappen), team representatives and have reviewed video and audio evidence.

"Stroll was on a fast lap and was allowed to pass by Verstappen on the lap preceding the incident.

"Given the information from his team and usual practice, Verstappen assumed that Stroll would back off for the next lap and moved to overtake along the main straight.

"However, Stroll was instructed by his team to go for a second flying lap.

"Stroll assumed that Verstappen would have backed off to gain a gap between them, also in line with usual practice, and so was not looking for the overtaking Verstappen.

"The drivers agreed in the hearing that the incident was the result of a misunderstanding between them and that with hindsight, both could have contributed to avoid the incident."

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