Should Verstappen have been given a bigger penalty for Russell collision?

BBC News

2 days ago

The Spanish Grand Prix was won by McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who took his fifth victory of the season from team-mate Lando Norris.But the story of the race was the controversial series of events surrounding Max Verstappen in the closing laps.Verstappen appeared to drive deliberately into George Russell's Mercedes, a few laps after he left the track while battling for position with the Briton.Following the race in Barcelona, BBC Sport F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions.
Should Max Verstappen have been given a bigger penalty for his actions in the Spanish Grand Prix? Deliberately ramming another driver feels like the sort of action which would have led to a ban for the following race in times past – John
Everyone will have their own opinion on this.It was clear after the race that many people in Formula 1 did not think Verstappen had behaved correctly in his collision with George Russell's Mercedes at Turn Five, and he has now admitted that it was "not right and shouldn't have happened".Asked whether Verstappen should have had the black flag - which disqualifies a driver from the race - Russell said: "If it was truly deliberate, then absolutely. Because you cannot deliberately crash into another driver."We're putting our lives on the line. We're fortunate the cars are as safe as they are these days. But we shouldn't take it for granted."But penalties are at the stewards' discretion and in this case they decided to give Verstappen a 10-second penalty, a relatively severe sanction, and three points on his licence.Why was this adjudged to be a less serious offence than Russell cutting the chicane to pass a Williams in Monaco and not giving the place back, for which he got a drive-through penalty?The stewards' verdict did not address that, and an FIA spokesperson said they could not speak for the stewards as they are independent.Those three points do put Verstappen one away from a ban. Which means any transgression in the next two races in Canada and Austria, and Verstappen will be forced to miss the next grand prix.After that, some points come off his licence because they go beyond their year's expiry date.
Given the stewards were not going to take any further action against Max Verstappen for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, do you think Red Bull pulled the trigger too early in ordering him to give the position back to George Russell? Danny
With the benefit of hindsight, this was one of two mistakes Red Bull made in the Spanish Grand Prix.After the stewards launched an inquiry into the Verstappen-Russell incident in Turn One, Red Bull decided to order Verstappen to give the place back.Team principal Christian Horner said the decision was based "on recent experience and looking at recent incidents".Verstappen had kept fourth position by taking to the escape road after the two had made light contact while Russell tried a passing move. He believed he was justified in keeping the place because he felt the Mercedes driver had barged him off the track.Horner said Red Bull had contacted FIA race control and received nothing back and that, as it had gone to the stewards, "it looked for all intents and purposes that it was going to be a penalty".Horner added: "The argument is, was George under control at that point in time? Would he have made the corner? We've seen so many occasions this year where penalties have been given."You're expecting to get a penalty, so that's why it was, 'OK, do you know what? We're going to have to give this place up.'"The stewards' verdict was published some time after the race. It said that Russell had "momentarily lost control of the car and collided" with Verstappen, who "did not deliberately leave the track". As a result, it said, they took no further action.In other words, in their view, Verstappen could have justifiably kept the place.There are two parts of the racing guidelines in play here. To be entitled to be given space - ie, to have been judged to have won the corner - the driver overtaking on the inside has to have his front axle "at least alongside the mirror of the other car prior to and at the apex".Russell seems to have complied with this.But the car must also "be driven in a fully controlled manner particularly from entry to apex".This, the stewards decided, Russell had not. And that was also Verstappen's opinion.Horner said: "With hindsight, was it a mistake? Yeah, but I think that's where it would be nice, as the referee, as a race director, to either say, 'Play on,' or 'you need to give it back.' It's very hard for the team, subjectively, to try and make that call, because you're going on historical precedents."The second decision Red Bull got wrong, Horner admitted, was the decision to pit Verstappen for fresh hard tyres under the safety car, one that Verstappen immediately questioned vociferously once he was back on track.Horner acknowledged they should have left him out on his soft tyres. "He would have got passed by the two McLarens. Would he have got passed by (Charles) Leclerc? But you can only go with the information you have to hand."
Could the cycling accident injury, a second angry outburst and very poor performances signal the beginning of the end for Lance Stroll at Aston Martin? - Peter
There are a lot of unanswered questions about this situation, but one that has been answered is whether Lance Stroll lost his temper in the Aston Martin garage after qualifying on Saturday.On Sunday morning, this writer and another journalist asked an Aston Martin spokesperson whether claims that Stroll had banged equipment about, sworn at team members, and stormed out of the garage were true.The spokesperson did not deny the story. They said: "Lance was upset."Later that evening, an Aston Martin source contacted BBC Sport to deny that anything was broken or that Stroll swore at colleagues. But not the central truth of the story.This came to light after Aston Martin announced on Saturday evening that Stroll had withdrawn from the race because of pain in his hand and wrist, which they said his medical consultant believed was related to the operation he had after suffering two broken wrists in a cycling accident before the 2023 season.There are a couple of ways of looking at this.On the one hand, for Stroll to be so annoyed, apparently about being knocked out in Q2 and being 0.535secs slower than team-mate Fernando Alonso, suggests he is very invested in his attempt to be successful in F1.Stroll's previous outburst after qualifying came in a similar situation, when he had been over a second slower than Alonso in Qatar in 2023.But it is very unusual for an F1 driver to deliberately skip a race for an injury or pain of this kind.Many drivers race with injuries, and Stroll himself raced with two fractures at the start of 2023, after the operation that the team say his medical consultant believes is at the root of his current predicament.As to whether this is the beginning of the end for Stroll, only he knows.He has a seat at the team as long as he wants. His father Lawrence owns it, and he essentially bought it so Lance could have a drive in F1, with the aim of becoming world champion.Stroll is far from the most communicative or amenable of F1 drivers with the media. But, whenever he is asked, he always says he is committed to F1 and the team.
Is there any evidence that McLaren have made changes to deal with how Lando Norris was struggling to get to grips with the car in qualifying. Is this the biggest difference between last year, where Norris was clearly the quicker McLaren driver, and this year where Oscar Piastri has had a clear edge? – Tom
Norris has admitted in the first part of this season that an aspect of the behaviour of the McLaren car has been affecting his qualifying form, particularly what team boss Andrea Stella says is a "numb" feeling from the front axle.To resolve this issue, McLaren have been working with Norris on his driving, and have said that upgrades will be introduced to the car to help the issue.Norris felt that he made a breakthrough with this in Monaco, where he took pole position. After he qualified second to team-mate Oscar Piastri in Spain, he was asked whether he still felt he had made that progress.Norris replied: "The speed was easily there today. And sometimes you just don't put the laps in. Today was good."I was a little bit behind at the start of qualifying and I caught up nicely. I know where I lost that time on the final lap. It was just trying a little bit too much and just not being quite tidy enough – especially around a lap like Barcelona."One little oversteer in Turn One, Turn Two, you kind of already know it's going to be a tricky rest of the lap. So, it's still good. I still feel fine. I'm happy with second, especially in Barcelona – it's not the end of the world. So, a positive weekend."As for the dynamic between the two drivers, well, that's still playing out. Let's see how the next few races pan out.
Why did Ferrari leave Lewis Hamilton out so long before his second pit stop? He was two seconds in front of George Russell, who had made his second stop and afterwards he was 10 seconds behind. What is going on with that pit wall? - Mike
This topic was not covered in Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur's post-race briefing. But bear in mind that running long is a standard tactic in Spain, to give the driver a tyre offset against a rival.Russell was only two seconds behind Hamilton when Mercedes pitted him on lap 41, well within undercut range. So it would make sense for Ferrari to leave Hamilton out for exactly this reason.In any case, this is not the biggest issue surrounding Hamilton after the Spanish Grand Prix.The seven-time champion was downcast after the race. He mumbled through his media briefing, giving very short answers, if he answered questions at all, before excusing himself after a couple of minutes.He said: "I have no idea why it was so bad", and said it was the "worst race I've experienced, balance-wise." There were "zero" positives, he said.Hamilton's concern, presumably, was his lack of pace.He started the race two places ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc. It was an encouraging qualifying performance by Hamilton, even if the context was that Leclerc's session had gone slightly awry as he tried to save two fresh sets of medium tyres for the race.Leclerc passed Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli immediately and trailed close behind Hamilton until lap 10, when Ferrari ordered Hamilton to let him by.In the subsequent five laps before his pit stop, Hamilton lost just under four seconds to his team-mate.Leclerc stopped for the first time a lap later than Hamilton. By the time the Monegasque stopped again on lap 40, Hamilton was 10 seconds adrift.That's hardly a disaster, but nor is it what Hamilton expects of himself.In the final part of the race, Vasseur said, Hamilton had a problem on his car, the identity of which he did not specify."He did 70% of the race in front of Russell," Vasseur said. "I'm not sure that Russell said that the race was a disaster. Then we had an issue on the car, the last stint (after) the safety car. The result is not good, but he did 45 laps in front of Russell."