FIA told to investigate Max Verstappen as Lewis Hamilton suspicion emerges
Max Verstappen wins third consecutive Formula One world championship
Max Verstappen will be riding a wave of confidence, as he has done practically all season, heading into this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix. The Red Bull star is on a three-race winning streak, and with each contest he is merely extending his winning margin, having already sewn up the 2023 Drivers’ Championship.
Lewis Hamilton was only two seconds shy of Verstappen when he took the chequered flag at Circuit of the Americas, but his weekend was ruined when the FIA dished out a disqualification to the Mercedes man – as well as Charles Leclerc – for illegally-worn skid blocks.
Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz picked up the remaining podium spots as a result. Mercedes admitted that the fiasco had left them ’embarrassed’, but the Mexican Grand Prix will give them the perfect opportunity to make amends.
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Lewis Hamilton suspicion comes to light
Former F1 team boss Peter Windsor suspects that Lewis Hamilton would have been joined by several other drivers in disqualification if the FIA had inspected more of the cars that started the United States Grand Prix on long first stints.
Charles Leclerc also saw his race result chalked off, with his and Hamilton’s cars having illegally-worn skid blocks by the end of the race.
“This rule testing one car from the top four has been in F1 for many, many years,” Windsor explained in a YouTube livestream. “It’s because they want to save time and it’d take forever to do every car.
“I suppose they could do a slightly larger sample, but that’s the rule. And that’s what they did. In my opinion, if you want to look at who else would have been in trouble, look at the length of the first stints.
“I suspect Daniel Ricciardo would also have had trouble, as would Nico Hulkenberg, and we know Fernando Alonso did have trouble with his floor collapse.”
FIA told to investigate Verstappen
Former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve believes that the FIA should have investigated Max Verstappen for his actions during the sprint race at Circuit of the Americas.
The Red Bull star made an aggressive move to defend first place from Charles Leclerc on the opening lap, with some critical that he went too far.
“Leclerc was pushed off the track, it’s too much,” Villeneuve told F1 TV. “It wasn’t necessary.
“I don’t understand why the first lap should be evaluated differently, a dirty maneuver or pushing a car to the limits of the track are things that should be investigated.”
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