Mercedes lodges then withdraws protest against Max Verstappen
Mercedes GP lodged a protest against Max Verstappen after the Dutchman’s controversial defensive move against Lewis Hamilton in Japan - only to withdraw it shortly afterwards. That means the result is official, with Verstappen still in second place.
The incident occurred when Hamilton attempted to pass on the inside under braking for the chicane on the penultimate lap. Verstappen moved to the right, and Hamilton was forced to switched to the left go straight down the escape road.
After the flag, race director Charlie Whiting and the FIA Stewards - including former driver Emanuel Pirro - had separate meetings with Verstappen to discuss his driving, in the light of similar incidents in Hungary, where he also moved in the braking area. However, there was no official enquiry or summons for him to appear and answer any charges.
Later, Mercedes took matters into its own hands by submitting a protest. The FIA subsequently announced: “A protest has been lodged by Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team against car 33 driven by Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing relating to an alleged breach of Article 27.5 of Formula One Sporting Regulations, in that he allegedly drove erratically and in a dangerous manner, forcing car 44 to take evasive action at Turn 16. The Stewards are conducting a hearing. The results are still provisional.”
At their initial review of the protest, the stewards noted that both drivers had gone, with Hamilton already on Niki Lauda’s plane back to Europe in company with Toto Wolff, and Verstappen travelling by train to Nagoya and on to Tokyo. With that in mind they decreed that the protest would be heard by the stewards at the next race in Austin, where Mark Blundell is the driver representative.
They reported: “At the commencement of the hearing the Stewards noted that neither driver was in attendance and hence was unable to give or refute any evidence. After hearing initial comments by representatives of Mercedes, the Stewards decide that in order to ensure fairness and afford both drivers the opportunity to be heard, the matter should be deferred and in accordance with Article 11.9.2.s of the International Sporting Code, the Stewards delegate their authority to the Stewards of the 2016 United States Formula One Grand Prix. Both team representatives agreed to this.”
Shortly afterward, Mercedes told the FIA that it was withdrawing the protest. A spokesman said that the decision had been made “in the interests of establishing a final result this evening once it became apparent that the hearing cannot be concluded today.”
In a strange twist just beforehand, Hamilton sent a Tweet from Lauda’s plane, saying: “There is no protest from either myself or @MercedesAMGF1. One idiot said we have but it's not true. Max drove well, end of. We move on.”
He then deleted that and added, without the idiot reference: “There is no protest from myself. Just heard the team had but I told them it is not what we do. We are champions, we move on. End of!"
