'Incident cost Lewis a win and certainly a second place'

The battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton got a new chapter on Sunday afternoon. Where the Briton had just come out from a pit stop, Verstappen drove hard into his rival and ensured the race came to an end for both drivers.

The stewards examined the incident afterwards and concluded that Verstappen had made a mistake. As they could not punish the driver during the race, the Dutchman received a grid penalty of three places for the GP of Russia.

Andrew Shovlin is fully behind the penalty, he told Motorsport.com. "We obviously felt strongly that Lewis had done absolutely nothing wrong, and that Max was the one predominantly to blame. I think if you look at the fact that even Helmut and Christian weren't trying to blame Lewis, it sort of feels like they know Max was in the wrong, because they will try and blame Lewis at any opportunity."

Shovlin saw chances of victory disappear

Despite this, Shovlin also regrets what took place. "Ultimately, I think it cost Lewis a win and certainly a second place, as you'll always feel that three places is relatively easy to overcome if you've got a competitive car. But that's all in the past now."