Images of Verstappen's car not seen after duel with Hamilton

Max Verstappen escaped a penalty after he pushed Lewis Hamilton off the track. Whereas other drivers received a five-second penalty for this in 2021, Michael Masi said the situation was different now.

Verstappen did everything he could during the Brazilian Grand Prix to keep Hamilton behind him. There was no way around it though, as the Mercedes driver's car was much faster, especially on the straight. In an attempt to keep Hamilton behind he pushed him off the track without making the turn. Normally this would have warranted a penalty, but the stewards decided otherwise.

It also appears that the images of the front of Verstappen's car were not used, let The Race know. ''We have requested the images, but have not yet received them,'' Masi revealed. The decision was because it was 'noted' and not 'under investigation, not as closely scrutinised as in other situations. In an under investigation situation the footage would have been required and Verstappen's telemetry would have been examined as well.

While Sergio Perez was given a five-second penalty in Austria for pushing Charles Leclerc off track, Masi doesn't want to hear about inconsistency. "I don't agree with that. You look at it and as I have said so many times, you judge the incident by looking at it properly. In addition, let's not forget to look at the 'let them race' principle everywhere. With all the footage we had, we followed that philosophy," Masi concluded.