Red Bull will not pursue new case against Hamilton with stewards

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6 December 2021 at 07:55
  • GPblog.com

Red Bull Racing are officially not going to make a protest against Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver appeared not to stay within ten car lengths of Max Verstappen in the lap to the grid, preparing for the first restart of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. However, the Austrian racing team are leaving it at that. Michael Masi explained on the radio that the ten car length rule doesn't apply because it wasn't a formation lap. 

Red Bull confirms this to GPblog. It's a bit of a surprise because Helmut Marko told Austrian television immediately after the race that Red Bull would not leave it at that. The advisor said that his team was gathering evidence to present Hamilton to the FIA. Marko still hoped for a revision of the final result.

It wasn't the first time last weekend that Marko blew his top. After the third free practice session at the Jeddah circuit, the 78-year old man from Graz also called for Red Bull to protest to the stewards about Hamilton not receiving a grid penalty for ignoring the double yellow flags. In the end, that protest didn't materialise either.

No protest against Verstappen penalties either

The Milton Keynes based team announced earlier that they will not appeal against the two-time penalties (of five and ten seconds) Max Verstappen received in Saudi Arabia. The stewards now appear to have definitively concluded all matters from last weekend.