Max Verstappen has to start the next race at the Russian GP three places behind his qualifying position. The stewards in Monza handed out a three-place grid penalty to the Dutchman. A penalty that Ralf Schumacher does not agree with.
Penalty for Verstappen not justified
In his column on Skysport.de Schumacher indicates to back Verstappen regarding the discussion about the penalty that followed the incident between the Dutchman and Lewis Hamilton.
The former driver starts: "I think the grid penalty of three places for Verstappen is not fair. Both drivers were racing hard and Verstappen tried to go around Lewis, but there was no room because Hamilton didn't give him any."
Hamilton knew what was at stake
Schumacher continued, stressing that Hamilton made an important trade-off: "Lewis didn't give up because he didn't want to lose that position. He knew that by doing so he would have lost even more points compared to Max. Then there was a bang; in my view a racing incident!"
Although Schumacher seems to imply that there were tactical considerations on Hamilton's part to give Verstappen minimal space, the German still believes it was a racing incident; there was no one to blame. The penalty Verstappen received is therefore not justified according to Schumacher.
The reason why the T4 incident didn't result in an accident and Hamilton went over the curb is because Verstappen ran him wide early in the corner. He signaled to Hamilton that he was going to run him wide and Hamilton knew he couldn't make it. Compared to the T1 incident, Hamilton left the door open and then tried to close it after Verstappen had already drive in to the gap. That will result in an accident every single time. Hamilton should have ran Verstappen off in T1 to defend like that, not try to pinch the T2 apex after Verstappen was already there.
So clear the racetrack for Verstapen, just because he wants to race....and is not good at politics.
Makes so much sense....
Lewis is more experienced in politics. Verstappen solely wants to race.
Politics, what has HAM done? Last time he got the penalty and the haters,said too lenient, none of the professionals said it was too lenient, now Max got the penalty and the haters are blaming HAM for it. They just want HAM to let him pass or what? As for Ralf, he is allowed to have his opinion, though I am sure he is more biased than the stewards who do not have close relationships with the 2 drivers.
They are not blaming LH. They say it is a racing accident.
Both drivers to blame, as both are agressive. Both taking the risk.
A lot of them (bloggers here) were not only blaming HAM but also saying it was deliberate in Silverstone, this is what iwas talking about
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