“Nobody Does This on Purpose”: Max Verstappen Defends Arch-Nemesis Lewis Hamilton Over Controversial Disqualification in Austin

Max Verstappen has come out in support of arch-rival Lewis Hamilton after the stewards controversially disqualified the Briton at the United States Grand Prix last weekend. The officials stripped the 38-year-old of his second-place finish after his car had higher than the permissible amount of plank wear. Hamilton was not the only driver the stewards disqualified as Charles Leclerc faced the same fate.

When asked to share his thoughts about Hamilton and Leclerc’s disqualifications, Verstappen said (as quoted by AMuS), “Nobody does this on purpose. But if you go too far, you can only increase the tire pressure. Then you’re driving balloon tires and you’re much too slow“.

Until that disqualification, everything went right for Mercedes, as Hamilton had outstanding pace throughout the race. The seven-time champion eventually crossed the line in second and finished just 2.2 seconds behind race-winner Verstappen.

The Dutchman himself was investigated after the race but escaped punishment as the stewards deemed his car legal. While the officials determined the 26-year-old’s car legal, Hamilton believes that several other drivers would have received punishment had the stewards investigated more than just four cars.

For the longest time, F1 has had a rule where they investigate the top four teams. As a result, the stewards only investigated Mercedes’ Hamilton, Red Bull’s Verstappen, Ferrari’s Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Lewis Hamilton strongly believes other drivers also had illegal cars

Lewis Hamilton believes that he and Charles Leclerc were just unlucky to be disqualified as other drivers also had illegal cars. The Briton revealed that he is aware of the same because of the conversations he had post the US GP.

“I heard from several sources that there were a lot of other cars that were illegal and they were not tested so they got away with it,” Hamilton explained (as quoted by The Guardian). Meanwhile, in another interview (as quoted by Junaid), the 38-year-old explained how the nature of the track in Austin made the plank wear “worse than ever.”

Hamilton denies that only the low ground clearance gave the Mercedes wings:”We usually do better with more ride height. That wasn’t the reason why we were so fast. We’ve never had this problem when driving as low as we did in Austin. But this time the bumps were worse than ever.”

— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) October 26, 2023

Following what transpired at the US GP, more teams are now in favor of changing the regulations surrounding plank wear. As quoted by AMuS, most of the people in the paddock are of the opinion that the stewards shall measure all the cars or none.