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Lewis Hamilton says it’s “interesting” people are now talking about Max Verstappen pushing Lando Norris wide in Austin, because “the same thing happened to me in 2021”.
At the start of the United States Grand Prix, Max Verstappen forced Lando Norris wide at Turn 1, but he escaped any sanctions from the stewards.
Later, while Verstappen and Norris were battling over third place, Max again pushed Lando wide, they both went off the track, and Lando ultimately returned ahead.
This time, the stewards penalized Lando for gaining an advantage by overtaking Max outside track limits.
This has caused quite a debate among F1 personalities and fans, and McLaren has even formally asked for a review of Norris’ penalty.
Ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton gave his comments on the stewards’ decisions in Austin.
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“It’s always been a grey area,” the Briton said.
“That’s why he’s got away with it for so long. They probably need to make some adjustments, for sure.
“Also, you do have inconsistencies on rulings, weekend in, weekend out, obviously depending on which stewards are there.
“As a sport, we do need to level up on all areas. You look at other global sports, they have full-time refs, and I’m sure that wouldn’t be a bad thing for our sport.”
Lewis also said he had experienced Verstappen’s ‘dodgy’ defending tactics many times during their fierce title fight in 2021.
“I experienced it many times with Max. You shouldn’t be able to just launch the car up the inside and be ahead and then go off, and still hold the position.”
He further elaborated his position later in a talk with Sky Sports F1.
“It’s interesting people are talking about it now because the same thing happened to me in 2021.
“If you take Brazil into account, for example, under braking you’re ahead but then the car [on the inside] just comes off the brakes and doesn’t make the corner and you have to go wide.
“Then they’ll say you both went wide but you had no choice because you had to avoid a collision. There definitely has to be something done about it because it’s happening a lot now.
“You shouldn’t be able to come off the brakes, run more speed in, go off track and still hold your place,” Hamilton concluded.
