Lewis Hamilton crossing the checkered flag in P18 was a heart-in-stomach moment for everyone watching. The fast-paced Sprint shootout-qualifying, while entertaining, led to a lot of chaos on the track. And while Hamilton was disappointed with Mercedes for his tire choices, It was Max Verstappen who was blamed for his result.
The Red Bull Ring is a short circuit- which usually means a lot of traffic in these sessions. With penalties being thrown left and right for track limits and impeding, a video of Verstappen getting in Hamilton’s way has fans demanding a penalty for the Sprint victor.
In the clip, Hamilton is on his flying lap. The driver was also warned of the oncoming Red Bull via radio before setting off. Eventually, Verstappen’s RB19 comes into the frame, clearly overtaking the Mercedes.
Even Hamilton pointed this out on his radio, stating, “Verstappen just quit his lap,” as all of it was for nothing while Hamilton lost out on a crucial time.
Fans demand a penalty for Max Verstappen
The video of the onboard footage soon went viral as fans raised the question on everyone’s minds: Where is the penalty? However, fans kept their expectations low. Believing that the FIA will play favorites yet again, the common emotion in the community was anger.
As one fan summed it up: “Will there be any action taken, FIA? I’m not holding my breath…”
Obviously nothing will happen to golden boy
— AJ (@Jamal_JRab) July 1, 2023
Fans called out to the FIA to take action on what was a clear slam dunk on Verstappen’s part.
Absolute joke. Max overtakes, screws lewis' lap then immediately slows down! How is that not a pen??
— Elliot (@EMS_Productions) July 1, 2023
Mocking Verstappen for being the FIA’s “golden boy”, fans were ready to be disappointed.
Cause he is fia's favourite baby
— GH⭐ (@rizou511) July 1, 2023
And thus, the blame game began.
He’s verstappen, they’ll blame lewis.
— yas ⁴⁴ (@f1yasmine) July 1, 2023
https://twitter.com/edasdias/status/1675089415415234561?s=20
Lewis Hamilton unfazed
Although things went south for Hamilton and his fans continue to rally for him- the 7-time champ maintained a cool head. Claiming that the Sprint Race wasn’t important anyway, the Mercedes man shared a peek at what was going on in his head.
“Timing wasn’t right. Sprint race doesn’t really matter anyway. I’ll just have some fun from the back.” Although P18 is unfamiliar territory for the driver, he chose not to waste his energy on it. “It is what it is. I don’t really feel anything about it. I wish I was still out there but not today.”
Thus, as Mercedes preps for a difficult Sprint race with Russell’s damaged car in P15 and Hamilton in P18- it will be interesting to see how the dynamic duo pulls through.
