Gary Lineker agrees with Piers Morgan over Hamilton vs Verstappen ‘rule-bending’

Gary Lineker has agreed with Piers Morgan’s tweet in which he claimed Lewis Hamilton was ‘robbed’ by ‘rule-bending’ officials in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

The final race of the Formula 1 season saw Max Verstappen crowned champion for the first-ever time in controversial circumstances.

Hamilton possessed a ten-second lead over his rival with just five laps to go when a safety car was brought on after William driver Nicolas Latifi crashed into the barriers and disrupted the race.

Verstappen pitted for fresh tyres and a decision by race directors allowed some of the lapped cars to overtake the safety car and a set up a one-lap drag race between himself and Hamilton.

Verstappen subsequently overtook Hamilton and snatched the World Championship, while Mercedes lodged two unsuccessful protests to race officials over the decision.

And on Monday Morgan took to Twitter to tweet about the incident which cost Hamilton his eighth F1 title.

It read: “New F1 World Champion @Max33Verstappen’s Grand Prix win yesterday was thrillingly unpredictable, sensationally exciting, and also completely unfair… @LewisHamilton was robbed by rule-bending officials who wanted to give us all a great dramatic TV moment. That’s not sport.

Lineker later quote tweeted Morgan’s tweet and simply said: “Agreed.”

However, speaking after the race on Sunday, Red Bull principal Christain Horner felt the decision by the race officials was the right one.

"Max got a little bit lucky with the safety car tonight but still had to come through with the strategy," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"We didn't want it to end in the steward's room. They have come to the right decision, we are grateful.

"Michael Masi wanted to let them race. That's what we have talked about for years. Nikki Lauda came up with the concept of 'let them race' and that's what they did.

"Max is a very worthy world champion and we are very proud of him."

Horner added: "We are going to go and celebrate this championship now. Thank you very much."

Champion Verstappen echoed the sentiment, claiming the safety was no longer necessary in the race.

“Everything was clear, so why would you run another lap behind a safety car?” he said. “When everything is clear you have to release the track. I think that’s a fair point from the race direction.”

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