Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Red Bull Ring, 2020

Red Bull call for stewards to review decision not to penalise Hamilton

2020 Austrian Grand Prix

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Red Bull has requested the stewards review their decision not to penalise Lewis Hamilton for failing to slow for yellow flags during qualifying.

The stewards took no action against Hamilton after ruling the Mercedes driver was shown both yellow and green flags after his team mate Valtteri Bottas left the track in front of him at the end of Q3.

The FIA confirmed Red Bull has submitted a petition for the stewards to review document number 33, in which they gave their reasons for the decision.

“The driver mentioned that he passed a green light panel in turn five,” the stewards ruled yesterday. “The video footage confirmed that there have been yellow flags and green light panels at the same time and therefore conflicting signals were shown to the driver. Taking this into account, the stewards decide to take no further action.”

A Mercedes representative was asked to report to the stewards at 13:45 local time.

If Hamilton were to be given a grid penalty, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen would be promoted to his place on the front row of the grid alongside Bottas.

Update: Three-place penalty drops Hamilton to fifth, Verstappen promoted to second on grid

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Keith Collantine
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40 comments on “Red Bull call for stewards to review decision not to penalise Hamilton”

  1. Come on RB. Have some respect for yourselves.

  2. If you cant beat them on track. Throw dirt at them off track

  3. Wow, just as expected this team has stooped to a new low.

    1. Josh (@canadianjosh)
      5th July 2020, 13:19

      Max was given a penalty in Mexico doing the same thing. It was closer quarters but the yellow was out as was with Lewis and they never lifted.

      1. Max decided to ignore yellow flags on purpose.

        1. Josh (@canadianjosh)
          5th July 2020, 13:22

          And Lewis was oblivious to Bottas going off?

          1. In case of Max he is a repeat offender(Russia 2018 apart from obvious Mexican GP) and then brags about it or throws taunts at stewards.

          2. petebaldwin (@)
            5th July 2020, 13:30

            It’s irrelevant. They can punish him separately for his behaviour if they like but the issue here is ignoring yellow flags. Both did it – both were rightly penalised.

          3. Problem is how this team is lodging protests one after another(including talks of one against Racing point) and in this case they lodge protest 1 hour before race when they had whole yesterday evening to do it.

          4. petebaldwin (@)
            5th July 2020, 13:46

            Yeah I agree – teams shouldn’t have to protest things like this but after today’s decision, it appears that they have to! Would the stewards have made the decision they did today without Red Bull requesting a review?

    2. To me it is rather stunning that the stewards apparently did not have this footage, or did not take it into accout really. And that a competitor had to point out this footage was clearly showing that Hamilton’s statement about the flags was not true.

      Good on Red Bull for correcting this mistake. Honestly, I was surprised yesterday when initially they did not dock Hamilton a few positions to stay clear and consistent

      1. Yes, really goes to show how bad the stewarding is in f1. Not saying I could do a better job, but there’s a lot of people, even people who do mathematical models, who think stewards aren’t consistent at all.

    3. Nah red bull has always been a bunch of cockroaches

    1. Its not clear cut even if the video shows a yellow flag through a dust cloud.
      Then if you allow for reaction time he’s already looking at a green flag ahead of him to his right which is then the flag he should obey.

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      5th July 2020, 13:22

      Seeing that video – it’s a clear penalty in my opinion. There was a yellow shown and there was also a huge amount of sand kicked up to the edge of the track so it was clear someone went off. He continued to accelerate despite this and then floored it through the dust even though his visibility was compromised.

      If we want people to drive safely and avoid incidents like we saw with Hubert, drivers have to start slowing down when they see that someone has crashed. Thinking “maybe he just went wide – I’ll chance it” isn’t good enough.

      1. Yup same here… after seeing this video the penalty is a no brainer

      2. You do know that the driver is looking through the dust cloud and wont see the yellow.
        The camera can pick up greater detail than the eyes of the driver.

        1. The mere fact he’s driving through a dust cloud should indicate the safest option is to slow down.

    3. Thanks for the video link. I saw a Yellow flag sign that was active, then down 200 metres or so down the track on the right hand side was a marshall waving a flag that was probably yellow, but might have been light green, and then about 400 or 500 metres passed the marshall is a green flag sign on the right hand side.

  4. Last year max also got robbed in Mexico die the same thing. Same rules, same punishment. Lewis lovers.

    1. Die =for

    2. Erm I don’t care either way but that was a bit different. I’ll explain why if you don’t know…

      1. Explain please, I’ll counter all your arguments.

    3. Wasn’t Max bragging about not slowing down and got himself punished though?

      1. He wasn’t bragging, just like Lewis he said he didn’t slow down.

  5. RBR is looking for a payback after Verstappen had his lap time erased for a similar incident last year.
    I understand their intentions. Marshalls have to keep decisions consistent, so drivers have a clear idea of what is acceptable and what is not.
    Not saying that they are right or wrong, but Mercedes and Ferrari always keep pressure over such decisions to not getting his drivers penalized.
    Verstappen is on the clean side of the track. Not sure 2nd place would be better for a start on mediums. I think RBR just wants to make a point here.

    1. laptime wasn’t erased now and back in Mexico just a 3 grind penaulty both got.

  6. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    5th July 2020, 13:13

    Initially I thought that’s a bit desperate but at the same time they’re kind of right? He did pass the yellow flag, he did see Bottas go off and didn’t lift off at all. I thought it was a slam dunk penalty, it usually is for most people so yeah its confusing why he didn’t.

    1. Josh (@canadianjosh)
      5th July 2020, 13:21

      Ya I personally don’t like the rule unless it’s so obvious and the drivers have time to be told what’s going on but the rules are the rules

  7. Yellow Flags Matter…

  8. The stewards already looked at it and cleared him because he was shown conflicting messages and assumed the cloud of dust was caused by someone dipping a wheel into the gravel.

    RBR showing their usual level of sportsmanship, sadly.

  9. Seems he has received a three places penalty.

  10. Josh (@canadianjosh)
    5th July 2020, 13:25

    Wow he got the grid penalty. It’s consistent at least.

  11. Sore losers.
    Hope they all crash at turn one

  12. He passed both a yellow LED panel AND a yellow flag before he got the green flag.
    No doubt it deserves a penalty.

  13. With Ferrari off the pace, it seems Red Bull have also taken thier place as F1’s moaners-in-chief.

  14. Karma for the snitches.

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