Red Bull Racing has not offered enough significant evidence to convince the FIA to review the penalty given the Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton at the British Grand Prix for his role in the collision with Max Verstappen that sent eh Dutchman into the wall in a 51g impact.
As we stated in our previous story, Red Bull would have to have compelling evidence that the stewards did no have or consider during their deliberations in handing Hamilton a 10s penalty.
According to reports, Red Bull have diagrams and even filmed Alex Albon driving through that corner during a filming day after the grand prix to show the proper line versus the line Hamilton took with, allegedly, too much speed.
In the end, Mercedes offered a terse statement about some additional allegations Red Bull made and the article at Motorsport also mentions some additional commentary in their cover letter but did not reveal what those statements said.
No doubt Mercedes were offended by it and the FIA stewards were nonplussed with it as well.
“The Stewards note, with some concern, certain allegations made in the Competitor’s above letter.
“Such allegations may or may not have been relevant to the Stewards if the Petition for Review had been granted.
“The Stewards may have addressed these allegations directly in any decision that would have followed. The Petition having been dismissed, the Stewards make no comments on those allegations.”
Suffice to say, the incident seems to be put to bed but if I am honest, the pearl-clutching is odd. Lewis Hamilton was deemed at fault, given a penalty, which he served, and therefore was considered to have caused a collision that was potentially very dangerous for Verstappen. End of.
All drivers can make mistakes and there is nothing in me that believes Lewis was putting Max in the wall deliberately or out of malice. He’s aggressive but he’s not that kind of driver. Red Bull may feel that a 7-time champ should be held to a higher standard and they may not be happy with Lewis’s actions and that’s their prerogative but I think, like our website, if they engaged in personal attacks, that was going a bridge too far.
Looking at F1 these days, the money has always been huge in the sport and there is a lot on the line but F1 seems to be following the more base behavior of social media and lack of decorum and that’s unfortunate. It’s not really F1’s fault, I think the teams and drivers are all part of this move toward money woes/complaints, politics, overanalyzing every move on track in the comfort of an armchair while drivers manage fractions of seconds.
There is a fine line between being relevant and simply engaging in the more base behavior of the mobocracy. They don’t like a call the stewards made? The mob launches and attacks the guest steward which is very unfortunate. They aren’t happy with Lewis’s move, they engage in personal attacks that are simply beyond the pale. They aren’t happy with Red Bull or Max, they claim they are pathetic humans with diabolical motives.
I find all of this very concerning and counter intuitive to the future of the sport. The future of entertaining racing and great opportunities for fans and young drivers and team members going forward. What good is all-paid internship for a person of limited means if you’ve torched the sport in the meantime? It begs the question…where are the adults? Could we have some decorum and civility please?
