28/10/2017
NEWS STORY
Stewards to take no further action over Max Verstappen following Q3 incident with Valtteri Bottas
While Verstappen claimed there was no incident, Bottas insisted the Red Bull driver had ruined his lap and cost him a place further up the grid following the incident in Turns 12 and 13.
The Stewards examined multiple angles of video evidence and radio calls to Verstappen, and heard from the driver himself as well as Bottas team representatives.
The deemed that Verstappen was clearly aware from the team radio and using his mirrors that Bottas was approaching on a hot lap. He moved from the racing line on the exit of turn 12 to avoid impeding the Mercedes.
Though Verstappen did move slowly from the racing line which could have affected Bottas, the Stewards did not consider this as impeding.
Asked about the incident in the post-qualifying press conference, Verstappen snapped: "Which incident? I was on the inside, he was just doing his line and he locked up, so there was no incident."
Told that it was being investigated, he added: "That can be. But for me, there is no incident."
However, as far as Bottas was concerned the Red Bull driver had a case to answer.
"I could see before the last sector that he was quite slow," the Finn told reporters. "He was just going slowly at the exit of Turn 12 and compromised my line a little bit for 13, and I had a lock-up there, so it definitely ruined my lap."
Asked if he felt the Dutch driver should be penalised, he said: I don't know what the rulebook exactly says. What I do know is it ruined my lap and I only had one attempt in Q3 instead of two."
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