'Smoking gun': New Max Verstappen footage sparks Mercedes uproar
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has requested a review after the dashboard footage of Max Verstappen was released following his controversial duel with world champion Lewis Hamilton.
As Hamilton celebrated his 101st win, and possibly the greatest race of his F1 career to revive his hopes of a record eighth world title, Mercedes team boss Wolff vented his feelings.
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The Austrian spoke of Hamilton’s ‘harsh’ disqualification from Friday’s qualifying and the stewards ‘laughable’ decision not to penalise Verstappen when the Dutch driver “forced” the champion off the road on Sunday as he tried to overtake.
While Verstappen avoided a penalty, dashboard details from his car wasn't reviewed by officials.
Race director Michael Masi revealed after the grand prix that stewards had not had access to now-released forward-facing cockpit video footage from Verstappen's car, but said the dashboard footage could be a 'smoking gun'.
"Only the cameras that were broadcast... is what we have access to," he said.
"The forward-facing, the 360 (degrees), all of the camera angles that we don't get live, that will be downloaded and we'll have a look at them post-race."
However, on Tuesday, footage was released from Verstappen's Red Bull.
Verstappen vs. Hamilton in Brazil 🇧🇷
The onboard footage we've all been waiting for 👀 pic.twitter.com/0BSoo1TH6T— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) November 16, 2021
Mercedes were particularly interested in the forward-facing video to see what steering movements Verstappen had made, with team boss Wolff saying the Dutch driver should have received at least a five-second penalty.
And since the review, Mercedes have submitted a formal request to have it investigated.
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) November 16, 2021
Fans quickly debated to whether Verstappen did enough during the turn to avoid running Hamilton off the track.
Studied the onboard from Max’s car this morning along with data traces from both cars for Weekend Debrief on F1TV. It’s hard racing, but Verstappen is in control. Crowding is debatable. Question of whether at the pace and turn in Ham would have made the corner anyway. Intriguing.
— Will Buxton (@wbuxtonofficial) November 16, 2021
The classic “ease off the brake pedal and gently understeer wide” move. Every (good) racing driver on the planet would have done the same.
Maybe Max deserved a warning but nothing more in my view. Good, hard racing between two of the best drivers ever. https://t.co/I4iUH1Rrgg— Karun Chandhok (@karunchandhok) November 16, 2021
Having watched the onboard and various other angles of the Verstappen/Hamilton incident, what is crystal clear is that a) Hamilton was ahead when reaching the breaking zone and b) would have made the corner had it not been for Verstappen’s inability to make the corner. Clear cut
— Sir Rantalot (@RudiHare) November 16, 2021
Having seen the Verstappen onboard footage... confused about what evidence Mercedes are talking about... seems quite clear Max did genuinely try to make the corner
— chandrashekar srinivasan (@write4mysupper) November 16, 2021
Anyone else seen the Verstappen onboard? It's done now, but Verstappen clearly didn't have much steering lock, and he would have come off the brakes earlier too. He's a very lucky driver. Onto Qatar, loved it in Moto GP, so hopefully it's good for Formula One.
— Cameron Cairns (@CameronCairns87) November 16, 2021
Its not even about it being deliberately done. Its black and white rules, did he gain a lasting advantage. Yes he did. So its a penalty. Its minor incident so it would be a minor penalty 5 seconds. Incidents are not always on purpose. https://t.co/v8s7jV5Ecv
— The Technician (@TheTechnician44) November 16, 2021
F1 world debates Hamilton-Verstappen incident
Broadcaster Sky Sports analysed the incident and F1 commentators agreed Verstappen appeared to fail to turn his wheels in the direction of the turn.
Following the race, Wolff's sense of injustice was palpable, as well as the feeling that Mercedes were fighting forces greater than Red Bull even as Hamilton closed the gap to Verstappen to 14 points with three races remaining.
“The team has always been together but these decisions have brought us so close together,” said Wolff.
“It’s against us and I think this is what Lewis felt all his life and we now feel it together as a team and we’re going to fight. And we are not going to be the victims. That is the emotion we’re feeling in the garage at the moment.”
In a dramatic weekend, Hamilton was disqualified from Friday's qualifying and given a five-place grid penalty for using a new internal combustion engine at Interlagos.
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