Lewis Hamilton battled Max Verstappen for a title back in 2021. He has experience of the levels his fierce opponent would go to to stay ahead. They clashed on track many times until the Dutchman won the epic title duel.
Last weekend in Austin, it was Lando Norris who took the battle to Verstappen. The Brit was penalized for overtaking Max off the track despite both drivers going off. But Hamilton is against the penalty and believes the rules need to be tightened up.
Lewis Hamilton call out “inconsistencies” from race stewards
The seven-time world champion believes the rules need to be adjusted as Verstappen’s defending approach should not be allowed. Speaking to Sky Sports in Mexico, Hamilton said: “It’s always been a grey area. That’s why he’s got away with it for so long.”
“They probably need to make some adjustments, for sure. Also, you do have inconsistencies on rulings, weekend in, weekend out, obviously depending on which stewards are there.”
#MexicoGP 🇲🇽 | Lewis Hamilton calls out inconsistent stewarding and penalties:
“It’s interesting people talking about it now because the same thing happened to me in 2021.”
“If you take Brazil into account, for example, under braking you’re ahead but then the [other] car just… pic.twitter.com/p3dWtqrTZY
— deni (@fiagirly) October 24, 2024
The official FIA rules are very clear. If you leave the track, defined by the white lines, you must not gain an advantage. This is what Norris is judged to have done. He also didn’t have enough of his car ahead going into the corner, with Max being ahead at the apex.
Verstappen had his front tyres ahead at the apex, which is the latest the rules state, so it was his corner. This is why Lando was penalized. If Norris had a significant part of his car ahead in the corner, Max would’ve had to yield.
However, should the three-time world champion force the McLaren off the track when running wide? Lewis certainly doesn’t believe so, concluding: “I experienced it many times with Max. You shouldn’t be able to just launch the car up the inside and be ahead and then go off, and still hold the position.”
The inconsistency comes from turn 12 on lap 1. Sainz tried an overtake on Verstappen and both drivers went off. Verstappen rejoined ahead but had overtaken off the track. This annoyed McLaren as why should their driver be penalized and Verstappen didn’t.
Hamilton draws parallels with his own battles with Max
The incident in Texas was similar to that when Lewis and Max battled hard in Brazil in 2021. The incident saw Hamilton try an overtake on the outside of turn 4, and Verstappen stuck his car up the inside, forcing the Mercedes driver off.
Hamilton said: “If you take Brazil into account, for example, under braking you’re ahead but then the car [on the inside] just comes off the brakes and doesn’t make the corner and you have to go wide. Then they’ll say you both went wide but you had no choice because you had to avoid a collision.”
There is certainly a grey area when it comes to Max’s style of defending. Should he have been punished for forcing another driver off? Or, because the corner was his according to the rule book, was it correct only Norris was penalized?
