FIA race director Charlie Whiting believes that Romain Grosjean overreacted over the qualifying blocking that he accused Max Verstappen of, saying that the Frenchman made it "worse than it was". Verstappen was cleared of any wrongdoing after the Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying session.
Speaking to Motorsport-total, Whiting said that the incident was not enough to warrant a penalty of any kind and that the Haas driver made a meal of what was a fairly innocuous incident.
"For me, this incident was not the same as that of Vettel in Austria," Whiting said.
"There was clearly an inability to do so. The biggest difference with Hungary is the bad weather conditions, which weighs heavily.
"Instead of going as fast as possible for the fast lap, he gave up immediately. Max was accelerating at that moment and I do not think Grosjean could keep up with him. Romain made it worse than it was."
Grosjean had complained over team radio that he had to get out of the throttle as he approached a slower moving Red Bull about to start a flying lap. Ultimately however, after reporting to the race stewards over the incident, no punishment was assigned to the Dutch driver.