Red Bull’s Helmut Marko says the team has new evidence which it hopes will make the crash “appear in a different light” when it is presented at an appeal hearing on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Red Bull have decided to appeal Lewis Hamilton’s British GP penalty after he and Max Verstappen were involved in a first lap crash. Verstappen spun into the tyre wall at high-speed, ending his race, whilst the Mercedes driver was able to recover from a ten-second penalty to claim victory.
The stewards admitted there was joint fault in the clash, but Hamilton was deemed to have caused the collision and was therefore penalised.
Marko claims the penalty was merely a slap on the wrist for an accident that could have had major consequences and at the time called for a race ban.
Speaking to RTL on Wednesday, the Austrian maintained his belief that a race ban should still be considered, amongst other options.
“A drive-through [penalty] or a ban at the next race,” replied Marko when asked what action the stewards should have taken.
Speaking about Red Bull’s decision to appeal the penalty, Marko hoped new evidence would put the crash in another light and encourage the stewards to re-examine their original decision.
“First of all, we are very happy that this reopening has happened. And we will now see how they judge it. But I think that what we bring forward will make it appear in a different light.
“We are bringing new facts that were not available to us at the time the race was suspended,” he added. “These facts are being brought forward and we hope that a reassessment will take place because we still believe that the penalty was mild for Hamilton.”
Marko went on to explain that Red Bull had “new footage” and “new facts” from the crash which they weren’t able to present at the time because their focus was on Verstappen’s health, after he was taken to hospital for a routine check-up because of the severity of the impact.
A ban from the next race works for me
For both would be entirely in line with the story so far.
But wouldn´t that bring LH one race closer to an 8th championship and be a black eye for the organisers of the GP which the pair missed. Zandevoort, for example?
DR Marko, methinks, doth protest too much. I know he is political but this is just whiney. Helmut should do Oprah, they´d get along.
This was all competitive racing. It is time to move on and let the best racer be the champion. I am sure Max doesn’t want to win the championship by default.
Couldn’t agree more.
Yep
I think it’s about time Red Bull lightened up and got on with what they proclaim to be best at.
Mr Horner and the team are doing themselves no justification by keeping on about a “ racing incident “ that for once Max lost. How many times has Max forced other drivers off the track with little or no consideration of the consequences. For once Max and the team have met their match and I’m sorry to say they don’t seem to like it. Maybe they should look at the previous corner when Max left the track and rejoined to his advantage. Will they protest about that, I doubt it.
I agree with you fully 💯💯💯
I wonder why you don’t mention that when Verstappen went off it was because Hamilton had just hit Verstappen’s rear wheel with his own front wheel, forcing Verstappen to take corrective action and run wide off the track. The same thing happened with Vettel at Monza 2018, a failed nudge at turn one which didn’t achieve the spin for which Hamilton was trying, followed by a harder wallop a few corners on to finish the job. Hamilton is a dirty driver, an out and out cheat.
I see the Stewards turned out the light! New evidence – movie making by what the Stewards said at the hearing today.