Masi supports Hamilton's punishment: "He could have gone further to the inside"

Let them race

After the crash between Verstappen and Hamilton on the first lap, and the subsequent penalty for Hamilton, discussions about time penalties flared up again. Masi explains his opinion to Autosport.com. "There is a clear point that the first lap is clearly treated in a much lighter way under the let them race principles than the rest of the race, there is no doubt about that. We had to let the drivers find their own balance."

"But the drivers have clearly said, as did the teams at the end of last year, that they felt the elbows went out a little too far last year and they needed to be tucked back in a little bit," said the Australian, who then specifically addressed the crash between Verstappen and Hamilton: "There were obviously two cars involved in the incident and all the drivers have said from the start of this year that if there are two cars involved, if there is someone who is predominantly or fully at fault, then that needs to be looked at a little bit more closely, even on the first lap."

Main culprit Hamilton

Masi explains why the stewards decided to give Hamilton a penalty:"I think after looking at everything, they felt that he was the main culprit for that. Most of it was similar to what happened later with Charles, that he could have entered closer to the apex for example. And there they felt that, I think the wording was very clear under the rules, that he was the main culprit. He wasn't entirely to blame, but he was the main culprit, and that he could have gone further in."