"Hamilton desperately tried to prevent Verstappen from repeating that move"

Opinions are strongly divided on the incident between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in the Brazilian Grand Prix. The stewards ruled that Verstappen's defensive work was not over the limit, but they were strongly criticised for that. Now that Mercedes has announced that it wants to challenge the decision in order to enforce a penalty, the discussion continues unabated. Former Formula 1 driver Jolyon Palmer has already sided with Mercedes.

"Verstappen made it clear with his controversial defensive action that he would do everything in his power to prevent Hamilton from passing him," Palmer writes in his column for Formula1.com. "When Hamilton finally got past you could see how desperate he was to prevent Verstappen from repeating his manoeuvre."

He continued: "He did that by cutting right past the Red Bull driver on the straight and taking the inside for himself, leaving Verstappen with nothing left to do but accept that he had been beaten."

The stewards decided to take no action, but as far as Palmer is concerned that was an error of judgement. "I have my doubts about this decision. For me it raises questions about precedents for the future - and from a sporting point of view I didn't think it made sense," he explained. "For me it was a clear case of forcing another driver off the track."