01/07/2019
NEWS STORY
Over three hours after the end of the race, the stewards declared that the incident involving Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc was a "racing incident" and required no further action.
The decision meant that the result stood, thereby seeing Red Bull as the only team other than Mercedes to win a race this year, Verstappen leapfrog both Ferrari drivers in the standings and Honda score its first win since returning to the sport in 2015.
Speaking shortly after the stewards revealed their findings, though insisting that he felt they'd made the wrong call, Ferrari team boss, Mattia Binotto said his team would not be appealing the decision.
"What's Ferrari's opinion and position... we still believe this is a wrong decision, that's our own opinion," he told reporters. "We believe that Charles left the entire space, he had no fault, a collision has happened and he has been pushed and forced off the track.
"We believe these are clear rules, which we may appreciate or not," he continued, "and these are exactly the same rules which have been applied in past races.
"Having said that, we respect fully the decision of the stewards, they are the judge and we need to respect that, and more than that I think that as a Ferrari fan, and I'm an ultimate Ferrari fan, I think it's time for F1 to turn the page and to look ahead."
His words come just weeks after Canada, where having decided not to appeal the time penalty handed to Sebastian Vettel, which ultimately cost him victory, the Italian team subsequently sought the right to review the decision, though a lack of new evidence meant this didn't happen.
"As we often said, we should leave the drivers free to battle," said Binotto, "so we may not be happy at the decision, we are not supporting the decision but somehow we understand the fact that we need to move forward, and overall I think that's good for the sport and good for F1."
When asked to clarify that Ferrari still had the legal right to challenge the decision, he said: "We can appeal. We may somehow have intention of appeal tonight, and appeal later on. But it's our decision not to do it, as I said, because we believe it's good for the sport."
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