Max Verstappen says F1 stewards were wrong to let off Charles Leclerc

02 August 2019 - 09:52 By Reuters
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
Max Verstappen, of Netherlands and Red Bull Racing, looks on during previews on August 1 2019, ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring in Budapest.
Max Verstappen, of Netherlands and Red Bull Racing, looks on during previews on August 1 2019, ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring in Budapest.
Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Red Bull's Max Verstappen took issue with "unfair" Formula One stewards on Thursday after Ferrari's Charles Leclerc escaped sanction for an unsafe release during a German Grand Prix pitstop last weekend.

Ferrari were fined €5,000 (roughly R80,901), instead of a time penalty for the driver, for sending the Monegasque into the path of Haas's Romain Grosjean in a chaotic race at Hockenheim, with the cars making minor contact.

The stewards noted in their written decision that Leclerc drove out at an acute angle to avoid a tyre changer in the adjacent pit.

Verstappen was handed a five-second penalty for an unsafe release in May after he collided with Mercedes rival Valtteri Bottas in the Monaco pit lane, costing the young Dutch driver a place on the podium.

Asked about the Hockenheim incident, Verstappen told reporters ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix that the decision was "completely wrong".

"If they (teams) would get a fine (and not a time penalty), everybody would do it," he said.

"I think it's not fair. To say that then they gave me that penalty (in Monaco) only purely because I touched, I think that's also not fair," added the 21-year-old.

"You are still releasing the car knowing that there is a car in the fast lane.

"Just a fine, it's not fair ... the fine? €5,000? I mean, it's peanuts for a team. They really don't care to pay that. I think it's completely wrong to do that, especially if you talk about safety. Not correct."

Formula One race director Michael Masi said after the Hockenheim race that no precedent had been set and each case was assessed on its own merits.

He also said that while Verstappen's case had been listed as an unsafe release, the penalty was for the pit lane collision that ultimately denied Bottas second place.

Verstappen, who had to spend two days with stewards in January and February as punishment for a post-race Brazilian GP altercation with rival Esteban Ocon, said he had heard team managers had discussed the situation.

"I think also they saw that was maybe not the right way to go," he added.

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said there had to be consistency.

"If next time the guy with just the same gets a five-second penalty, then something is wrong with the system in my opinion," he said.

"It cannot be once decided like this. For me, unsafe release being in rain, dry or snowing is the same. It's unsafe.

"If it (the fine) is wrong or right only time will tell, because maybe people take more risk and at some point we have to stop them."


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now