It cannot be said that the fight between Red Bull and Mercedes has gone from brown to dark in Brazil after the two accidents involving Max and Lewis this year, the countless technical inquiries related to the flexibility of the wings, the doubts about legality. of the engines. They are skirmishes between two teams facing each other forever and two antagonistic drivers. But yes, at Interlagos it has gone one step further: Hamilton was disqualified from qualifying (and came last in the sprint) because his wing’s DRS was too wide (it exceeded the statutory 85 millimeters) and Verstappen was fined! 50,000 euros! for touching the Englishman’s car in the closed park on Friday.
Red Bull was suspicious of the Mercedes wing and asked the driver to check it on the spot. They also raised their doubts with the FIA technicians before qualifying and thus Hamilton’s W12 failed the stewards’ test. As revealed by Toto Wolff, team leader, the excess was “0.2 millimeters”. The decisions of the referees were made on request: 20 hours after the session, and two hours before the sprint test, the double penalties were confirmed.
“They are going to have a good dinner and a very expensive wine”
Verstappen’s sanction has something ironic, that’s how he understands it. “It is a good fine, they are going to have a good dinner and a very expensive wine. I would have invited them!” The amount seems excessive because many drivers have touched many cars in closed parks. Vettel was a classic and Alonso opined: “We have all done it!” But the stewards want to set an example with the FIA’s international sports code: “Although it has been common in the past, it is prohibited.”
As for Hamilton, the Englishman ignored the event after his impressive comeback, from 20th to 5th: “I don’t know my opinion. (about the sanction), I take all experiences as a lesson. When they go down, I go up. This is how it works. “Before getting out of the car, he received a somewhat tricky radio message from Wolff: “Lewis, screw them!” To which the champion, elegant, replied: “This is not over.” The Austrian leader later clarified: “I do not mean the rules, it’s the resilience mindset. “
Beyond how much, why is missing. Did Mercedes want to cheat, was it a breakdown or an assembly error? The stewards attest to Brackley’s goodwill, “it’s an isolated mistake” and the car was legal in Mexico or Austin, although that does not absolve him of guilt. The official version points to the wear of the piece. “The wing was damaged. One side good, the center good and the other side not good. That means we had a performance disadvantage. When I saw that we were disqualified I thought it was a joke. Strange things happen, “defends Toto,” although Valtteri and Lewis’s time of competition gave us back the fun. “Until next time.