F1 drivers ‘don’t fully understand’ rules after Max Verstappen verdict

George Russell and Carlos Sainz have both expressed their confusion at the FIA’s decision not to penalise Max Verstappen after he ran wide and forced Lewis Hamilton off the track in Brazil.

Russell, who will join Hamilton at Mercedes next season, said Verstappen’s tactics were “well beyond the line” and claimed the only reason the Red Bull driver escaped punishment was because Hamilton still won the race.

“I think unfortunately there was no outcome,” he said, “but I do appreciate that you need to treat every single case by case and circuit by circuit.

“For me, that was not even close to the line, it was well beyond the line what went on. If this was the last lap of the race, in my mind that would have been a slam-dunk penalty for Max.

“You can’t just out-brake yourself by 25 meters and do that. Max wasn’t punished purely because Lewis won the race, but the consequences shouldn’t be a factor in the punishment for the judgement of the incident.

“You have to judge the incident on a case-by-case basis. That’s what they’ve always told us, it’s not the consequence of that incident, it is the incident itself.”

Sainz was also left perplexed by the lack of action and said drivers now “don’t fully understand” what is permitted.

“It looks like over the winter there’s going to be some more deep conversations about how we go racing as a sport,” said the Ferrari driver.