FIA announce penalty verdict on Max Verstappen after Lewis Hamilton incident at Singapore Grand Prix

The FIA have announced a decision on whether Max Verstappen will suffer a grid penalty at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Verstappen was placed under investigation following sprint qualifying on Friday after he was adjudged to have passed his old rival Lewis Hamilton under yellow flags during the first session.

The yellow flags were waved due to Sergio Perez's damaged Cadillac dropping debris on the track, prompting Hamilton to say on his Ferrari radio that Verstappen had passed him under a yellow flag.

The four-time champion was on a hot lap at the time when he was approaching Hamilton who was on a cool down lap.

While Verstappen admitted he overtook Hamilton, he insisted he did it before the yellow flags were waved, telling his team over the radio: "I let Lewis by again, because it was a bit tricky.. I think I passed him before the yellow, but I just want to be safe."

Verstappen took pole position for Saturday's sprint race ahead of Mercedes George Russell but pending the investigation had the potential of a five-place grid penalty hanging over him.

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FIA take no further action on Verstappen

However, the FIA stewards decided to take no further action on Verstappen, meaning he will keep his sprint pole position for Saturday's first session before qualifying.

The FIA said: "The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 3 (Max Verstappen), the driver of Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence.

"As Car 3 was exiting turn 7 on a push lap, a single yellow flag was displayed. Car 44 was ahead of Car 3 and had been warned of Car 3’s approach.

"The Driver of Car 44 said that after exiting turn 7, he slowed and moved to the right to ensure he was off the racing line. Car 3 overtook Car 44 prior to turn 8 while both cars were still in the yellow flag sector. Car 3 then abandoned the push lap.

"The Driver of Car 3 explained that he was on throttle exiting turn 7 and then saw the yellow flag and lifted.

"This was confirmed by telemetry. Within approximately 40 metres of entering the yellow flag sector, the Driver of Car 3 had lifted fully off throttle.

The Driver of Car 44 was braking and had reduced speed to less than 60km/h at the point Car 3 overtook.

"Because Car 3 was on a push lap and was on throttle out of turn 7 and Car 44 had slowed, the speed differential at the point of the overlap was significant despite the fact that the Driver of Car 3 had also started braking.

"The Stewards were satisfied that the Driver of Car 3 reacted appropriately to the yellow flag by lifting off throttle and reducing speed.

"The speed of Car 3 at the overtake point was some 70km/h less than Car 3’s speed on another push lap in the same session.

"The Driver of Car 3 explained that to have avoided the overtake would have required him to have braked very heavily and he considered to have done so would have potentially created an unsafe situation.

"The Stewards determined that the Driver of Car 3 breached the yellow flag regulation by overtaking Car 44.

"However, the Stewards were satisfied that the overtake was an unfortunate consequence of the significant closing speed differential and, in these The Stewards circumstances, determined not to impose a penalty."

Mekies defends Verstappen

Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies defended his driver ahead of the FIA's verdict, saying: "To be honest, I haven't seen the replay yet. But what I saw live was that Lewis was actually on a cool-down lap. So, he was driving at about fifty kilometers per hour."

"I think it was virtually impossible for Max to stay behind him once he saw the yellow flag and approached Lewis, who was doing only fifty kilometers per hour. Max slowed down significantly. I believe he lost more than a second, which is a huge amount for a single yellow flag."

"Realistically, I don't think he could have reacted quickly enough to stay behind Lewis without compromising safety. Hopefully, the stewards see it that way too."

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Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

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