Ecclestone hits out at stewards: 'That penalty was not justified'

F1 News

20 July 2021 at 08:25
Last update 20 July 2021 at 09:04
  • GPblog.com

Bernie Ecclestone has been critical about the punishment for Lewis Hamilton. According to the former CEO of Formula 1 the Briton should have received a much higher penalty for his collision with Max Verstappen.

The whole Formula 1 world is in an uproar because of the incident of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. The two collided during the British Grand Prix. However, while Verstappen was in hospital, Hamilton celebrated his victory. So what went wrong in giving the penalty?

Support for Verstappen

''In the old days we would have said it was one of those things, a racing incident. It was clear that everyone was doing his best to win the championship. But if the stewards needed to get involved then they should have given Lewis more than a 10-second penalty. It should have been 30 seconds,'' Ecclestone said to Sportsmail.

''Lewis was not in front at the point they collided. It wasn't his corner. He was almost a car's length behind. That's why he hit him at the back not the front. Ten seconds was not right. The punishment did not fit the crime. If you have to give a sanction, which in some ways they didn't need to, this was not right decision - it wasn't enough," concluded Ecclestone.