Max Verstappen has avoided a penalty for the clash with Charles Leclerc, meaning he keeps victory at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman completed a brilliant charge from fourth to first but made contact with the Monegasque as he passed for the lead at Turn 3 in the closing laps.
Leclerc argued that Verstappen had pushed him off track as a result of the wheel-to-wheel contact, preventing him from trying to re-pass, but the stewards disagreed.
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“Car 33 [Verstappen] sought to overtake Car 16 [Leclerc] at Turn 3 on Lap 69 by out-braking car 16,” their decision statement read.
“When doing so, Car 33 was alongside Car 16 on the entry of the corner and was in full control of the car while attempting the overtaking move on the inside of Car 16.
However, both Car 33 and Car 16 proceeded to negotiate the corner alongside each other but there was clearly insufficient space for both cars to do so.
“Shortly after the late apex, while exiting the corner, there was contact between the two cars. In the totality of the circumstances, we did not consider that either driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for the incident. We consider that this is a racing incident.”
After asking for the right to review Sebastian Vettel’s penalty in Montreal, Ferrari confirmed they would not seek any kind of appeal in this case.
