© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Max Verstappen has been hit with another penalty for being “the predominant cause” for the collision with Lewis Hamilton at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen has already been penalised with a five-second penalty at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but now he has received anoher ten-second penalty for his involvement in the collision with Lewis Hamilton.
In the race the Dutch driver was seemingly trying to slow down and let Lewis by, after being instructed to give the position back because of a previous incident.
At the time Lewis was yet to be informed by his team that this was going to happen, and Max suddenly slowed down and even moved a bit, which caused Lewis to drive into the back of his car.
After the race both drivers were summoned to the stewards and now the FIA has announced that Max will receive a ten-second penalty and two penalty points on his licence.
However, he will keep his second place, as Valtteri Bottas was too far behind at the end of the race.
Here is the full verdict by the FIA:
If you like SilverArrows.Net, consider supporting us by buying us a coffee!
“At turn 21 the driver of car 33 was given the instruction to give back a position to car 44 and was told by the team to do so ‘strategically’,” the statement from the stewards read.
“Car 33 slowed significantly at turn 26. However, it was obvious that neither driver wanted to take the lead prior to DRS detection line 3.
“The driver of Car 33 stated that he was wondering why Car 44 had not overtaken and the driver of Car 44 stated that, not having been aware at that stage that Car 33 was giving the position back, was unaware of the reason Car 33 was slowing.
“In deciding to penalise the driver of Car 33, the key point for the Stewards was that the driver of Car 33 then braked suddenly (69 bar) and significantly, resulting in 2.4g deceleration.
“Whilst accepting that the driver of Car 44 could have overtaken Car 33 when that car first slowed, we understand why he (and the driver of Car 33) did not wish to be the first to cross the DRS.
“However, the sudden braking by the driver of Car 33 was determined by the Stewards to be erratic and hence the predominant cause of the collision and hence the standard penalty of 10 seconds for this type of incident, is imposed.”
