Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton both escaped punishment for their dramatic collision in the Hungarian Grand Prix, with race stewards ruling “no driver was predominantly to blame” for the clash.
It means Sunday’s race result remains unchanged, with Hamilton finishing third and Verstappen in fifth behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen leaves the Hungaroring – after a race in which he repeatedly expressed his frustration over the Red Bull team radio with both his car and the team’s strategy – with a reduced championship lead over Lando Norris, who finished second in an emphatic McLaren one-two, of 76 points heading to the Belgian Grand Prix.
Hamilton and Verstappen were battling over third place when they made contact into Turn One on lap 63.
Attempting to re-pass his long-time rival for the final podium place with seven laps to go on fresher tyres compared with the Mercedes, Verstappen went for the inside line into the corner but locked up his front tyres.
The two cars made wheel-on-wheel contact which briefly sent the Red Bull airborne and off the track.
The drivers were still able to continue in the race, although Verstappen dropped a place to Ferrari’s Leclerc who had been following the duelling pair closely.
Verstappen blamed Hamilton for the incident over team radio and then afterwards claimed the Briton had moved under braking once he had started his attempted overtake “by keeping turning right”.
Hamilton, though, described it as “a racing incident”.
Stewards swiftly placed the incident under investigation and conducted their analysis of it after the race.
After reviewing an array of camera angles, telemetry data and speaking to both drivers, they ultimately concluded no further action was warranted as neither driver had been “predominantly at fault” for what happened.
“The Stewards do not consider this to be a typical case of ‘changing direction under braking’ although it is our determination that the driver of Car 44 (Hamilton) could have done more to avoid the collision,” read the stewards’ verdict.
“Accordingly we determine that no driver was predominantly to blame and decide to take no further action.”
Verstappen told Sky Sports F1: “I went for a move that was fully on, but then in the middle of the braking zone when I was already committed to the move, he suddenly keeps warping right.
“If I wouldn’t have turned while braking straight, I would have made contact with him. At one point naturally I locked up because he kept turning to the right.
“People always made a lot of what happened in Austria [in his collision with Norris]. ‘It was not correct blah blah blah’. But that’s on the initial move and then you just brake straight, you hold your wheel quite straight.
“I felt now it was not on the initial move, but afterwards during the braking zone he keeps turning right. You cannot do that when someone is committed to the inside.
“That’s why I locked up because otherwise we would have collided anyway because he would have just turned in on me.”
Hamilton told Sky Sports F1: “For me it was a racing incident.
“Ultimately he was much quicker and he sent it. I moved a little to defend, but I left enough space on the inside and he locked up and obviously then couldn’t turn.
“He came at a different trajectory and clipped my wheels. If he was under control he would have gone by.”
