“I had a look at it”– FIA’s Michael Masi talks about why no investigation was made over the bollard breach while Lewis Hamilton vied against Sergio Perez.
After lap 15, Hamilton got his eyes on Sergio Perez, the last reliable line of defence for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, and the Mexican certainly stood on his hopes.
When Hamilton managed to clear the deficit against the 31-year-old F1 driver, he aggressively tried to overtake, but Perez didn’t yield and kept his ground. Thus it led to some jump-scare moments.
Including when Hamilton allegedly shoved Perez onto the bollard, but the Mexican managed to keep his composure and make a comeback after almost losing to Briton on the grandstand straight.
But the internet was quick to react to the bollard incident, and when FIA’s Race Director Michael Masi was asked why no investigation was made on the incident, it was not a question of an aborted stop.
“I had a look at it, absolutely,” he said. “But as our regulations state in the notes, you only have to keep to the left of the bollard if you’re committed to entering the pit lane.
“So nothing in it. It was good, hard racing between the two of them. Neither team funnily enough raised the question, neither Mercedes nor Red Bull. Good hard fight, play on.”
Red Bull didn’t have any qualms
As Masi mentioned, both teams extended no word on the incident, though Perez was quick to the incident in the following lap, Perez said: “He pushed me off,” to which his race engineer replied, “Copy Checo, great defence.”
But after the neither Red Bull made any complaints nor Perez said a word about it. Therefore, it was good enough for the FIA to keep the topic settled.
“[Perez’s] team did not relay a word,” said Masi. “We don’t listen to every driver’s radio. And generally the teams are very good that if there’s an issue that they want reviewed, as you’re all well aware, the radio panel lights up very quickly!”
