The FIA stewards has fined Max Verstappen for €50,000 after he was found to be touching Lewis Hamilton’s rear wing after F1 Sao Paulo GP qualifying.
Red Bull’s Verstappen has been fined by €50,000 by the FIA stewards for touching Mercedes’ Hamilton rear wing after the F1 Sao Paulo GP Friday qualifying. The Dutchman was summoned by them after a video surfaced online late on Friday.
The stewards checked the footage of Verstappen, Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas and understood that the Dutchman did touch the rear wing of the Brit’s car under parc ferme conditions, which is not allowed to do so as per the regulations.
He ‘touched the rear wing in two places, once on either side of the DRS actuation device, but on the bottom rear side of the wing, in the area of the slot gap and never near the actuator or the end fixation points’, as per the FIA statement.
The videos also showcased that there was no force from Verstappen when he touched it and it didn’t damage the rear wing of Hamilton in any way. The stewards agree that it is normal for drivers to touch rivals’ cars to check for any exploitation.
It is usually taken as harmless but it did break the parc ferme rules and therefore the FIA stewards fined Verstappen for the said offence. The decision on Hamilton’s rear wing is now awaited by the stewards which is likely to be a back of the grid start.
Here’s the full statement: “The Stewards heard from the driver of car 33 (Max Verstappen) and team representative. The stewards also examined a fan video taken from across the track, CCTV video footage taken from pit lane and in car footage from car 14, car 33, car 44 and car 77.
“In all, these videos gave a clear picture of what occurred in parc fermé following the qualifying session. Verstappen exits the car, then moves to the rear of his car. He then takes his gloves off and puts his right hand at the slot-gap of the rear wing of his car. He then moves to car 44 and repeats the exercise, touching the rear wing in two places, once on either side of the DRS actuation device, but on the bottom rear side of the wing, in the area of the slot gap and never near the actuator or the end fixation points.
“Clear, high definition video from the rear facing roll-hoop camera on car 44 shows that there is absolutely no movement of any of the wing elements on car 44 when Verstappen touches the back of the wing and the Stewards are satisfied, from watching all the videos, his body position and the video of the wing, that there was insignificant force when Verstappen touched the wing.
“It is clear to the Stewards that it has become a habit of the drivers to touch cars after qualifying and the races. This was also the explanation of Verstappen, that it was simply habit to touch this area of the car which has been a point of speculation in recent races between both teams. This general tendency has been seen as mostly harmless and so has not been uniformly policed. Nevertheless, it is a breach of the parc fermé regulation and has significant potential to cause harm.
“The Stewards Considering the fact that no direct harm was caused in this case, in the opinion of the Stewards, and that no earlier precedent of penalties for this exists – on the one hand; but that it is a breach of the regulation and has potential for serious consequences on the other, the Stewards determine to take action in this case and order a fine of €50,000. The Stewards further note that it is intended that all teams and drivers take notice that future breaches may incur different penalties from the Stewards of those events.”
Here’s a video of Max Verstappen checking rear wing of Lewis Hamilton: https://twitter.com/frd182/status/1459288351224311814?s=20
