Horner: "Social media footage was the deciding factor in Hamilton's grid penalty"

After the conclusion of the stewards on Saturday evening nothing seemed to stand in the way for Mercedes to start the first Grand Prix of 2020 in first and second place. However, an hour before the start of the race, Red Bull Racing protested about that decision after new images of the incident came online. As a result, the stewards decided to reverse the decision and give Lewis Hamilton a grid penalty.

Christian Horner, team boss of Red Bull, explains why protests were made so late. "Someone told us that new images had come online on social media, namely that of the 360 degree camera," explains Horner at Motorsport.com. "It clearly showed us that there was a yellow panel that was being driven through."

“This footage indicated that it was an equal situation to Mexico". In Mexico it was also Valtteri Bottas who ended up next to the track, but then in the wall. Max Verstappen then also got a grid penalty of three places, for not slowing down under yellow flag. "We then asked the FIA if they could take another look at the situation."

"They said they hadn't seen that footage yet. So somehow, they didn't have access to those images or they just hadn't seen those images yet. So I think that looking at the footage a second time made it a clear decision for the stewards," says Horner.