On Tuesday, Mercedes announced that, based on new evidence, it had applied for a scrutiny right under the International Sports Act, almost certainly the start of Verstappen on board Sunday’s Grand Prix. Mercedes‘ earlier request to investigate the incident between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in Brazil was neglected due lack of evidence during the event.
Hamilton tried to overtake Verstappen at Turn 4 on the outside of Interlagos, but later Verstappen braked, steered and both cars had to pull into the tiebreaker.
Stewards noticed the incident but did not investigate, and a few laps later, Hamilton still successfully overtook Verstappen to win the race.
Verstappen leads Hamilton with 14 points in the drivers ‘championship, while Mercedes has an 11-point lead in the constructors’ championship.
If the review is approved and the commissioners subsequently decide to penalize Verstappen with five seconds, it would reduce his lead to 11 points and increase Mercedes’ lead to 17.
To succeed in getting the problem reviewed Mercedes have to display that a vast and applicable new detail is discovered “which became unavailable to the events in search of the overview on the time of the choice concerned”.
The FIA already showed that the choice became made at the same time as Verstappen’s forward-dealing with onboard became unavailable.
That meant the stewards only had footage that was streamed live at the time, including a helicopter shot and Hamilton’s front view on board, as the on-board camera was streamed from Verstappen’s car at the time.
As the incident failed to lead to a full investigation, FIA Race Director Michael Masi said the commissioners also failed to check the telemetry of Verstappen’s car, which showed its entry speed, braking point and directional maneuvers.
Delegates need to determine if this is important, new, and relevant.
Since Masi admitted that the front-facing camera was “potentially” crucial evidence, “but we had no access to it,” the Verstappen on board, publicly released on Tuesday, appear to immediately meet the requirement that it be “new and relevant.”
That doesn’t explain why, despite Verstappens getting out of hand and off the track, there was no investigation at all when incidents with Sergio Pérez and Lando Norris in Austria and Pierre Gasly in Turkey resulted in violations despite keeping their cars on the track .
Nor was there any evidence to suggest whether the inspectors believed that Hamilton would fall by the wayside because of his speed when entering the bend, and whether that was a determining factor. They could argue that it wasn’t “significant” if they felt that the images they could use were enough to make a decision. Either way, the stewards have to explain at least part of their logic, which is important as this wasn’t clearly communicated on Sunday in Brazil. Since the incident was never officially investigated, there was no delegate report explaining the main details. Masi simply said that the “let them race” policy was in place, that it effectively takes a more lenient attitude to encourage the toughest races, and that since they are “give or take”, “for the benefit.” “Let everyone let them go.” ”
“If you look up at the proximity of the cars, where it is, the type of curve, the fact that both cars exploded, neither lost their position, nor anything like that. that is probably the big picture, said Masi when asked by The Race what it actually means that the ‘Let them race’ principle should apply.
In processing Mercedes ‘request to investigate the incident, the stewards must accept it and therefore investigate the incident in detail, with a clear decision being communicated, or they must reject it with a detailed response to Mercedes’ arguments. In any case, this process should generate some responses.
They urgently need to find out why Verstappen’s actions were not worth investigating, let alone a sanction, or why the commissioners changed their minds.
They were even able to get a head-to-head comparison with previous incidents, widely cited as a precedent that was not prosecuted on Sunday.
It should end the uncertainty surrounding the recent high profile incident between these two title rivals for the most part, if not entirely, when the 2021 championship bout hits its climax.
