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Stewards take no further action after Hamilton/Verstappen collision

Stewards take no further action after Hamilton/Verstappen collision

Race control has decided to take no further action following the collision between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Verstappen attempted to pass Hamilton on the inside of Turn 1 but locked up as the pair approached the corner, his left-rear hitting Hamilton’s right-front. The Red Bull was launched into the air by the contact and Verstappen found that Hamilton moved under braking, but the stewards disagreed, despite making a note of the Mercedes driver’s involvement.

“Car 1 approached the corner faster than on previous laps (thanks to DRS) and braked at the same point as before,” the stewards’ decision read. “The driver of car 1 claimed that car 44 changed direction under braking. The driver of car 44 stated that he was simply following his normal racing line (which was confirmed by examination of video and telemetry evidence from previous laps).

“It was clear that car 1 locked both front wheels approaching Turn 1 before the collision occurred, but missed the normal cornering line for a typical overtaking manoeuvre.

“The driver of car 44 stated that it was a racing incident, while the driver of car 1 claimed that it was a change of direction under braking.

“The stewards do not consider this to be a typical case of ‘change of direction under braking’, although we believe that the driver of car 44 could have done more to avoid the collision.

“We therefore conclude that no director is primarily to blame and decide not to take any further action.”

Before the decision, Hamilton had already indicated that it was not a serious incident, but he was not happy with Verstappen’s claim that he swerved under braking.

“As far as I can remember, we clearly passed a backmarker,” Hamilton said. “I came to the braking zone and then Max seemed to be passing the car behind me, so I went forward to defend. I left enough space on the inside but Max blocked and he went the other way to me. I went towards, around the corner, and he came shooting across.

“It felt like a racing incident. It’s easy to make mistakes like that, so I don’t think there should be any animosity. But of course that will always be the case on his part.”