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Toto Wolff says Max Verstappen made sure Lewis Hamilton’s Austrian Grand Prix Sprint Shootout lap was ruined, and his “revenge foul” will be discussed “at the drivers’ briefing next week”.
In the Austrian Grand Prix Sprint Shootout, during Max Verstappen’s final run in SQ1, the Dutch driver came up to the back of Lewis Hamilton’s W14, and then complained over the radio that Lewis had blocked him.
“He blocked me into the last corner, so I had to brake more and I lost like three-tenths,” Verstappen said after the session.
“So that wasn’t ideal, and I think not correct. There was still a few seconds left on the clock so I didn’t know if my lap time was going to be safe and I wanted to continue.
“But ran out of time, space, with the two cars like that, which was a bit of a shame,” the Dutch driver concluded.
However, Verstappen also ruined Lewis’ final flying lap, when he moved past him and then blocked him. This caused Lewis to be eliminated in SQ1.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff explains Lewis unintentionally blocked Max because of a miscommunication with the team.
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“The mistake happened on our side,” the Austrian told Sky Sports F1.
“The communication between us and Lewis didn’t give him the right information to get out of Max’s way.
“I think no one wants to be in anybody’s way because if you impede, you’re getting penalised, so that was not the aim.”
However, Wolff notes that Verstappen then decided to block Hamilton on purpose.
“On the other side, Turn 1 was a revenge foul [by Verstappen]. It was just to make sure that his [Lewis’] lap was ruined.
“So one was not intentional, the other one was intentional. But who cares, at the end we looked at whether it was going to change our race or not…
“But I think they’re going to talk about it at the drivers’ briefing next week,” Wolff concluded.
