'Not fair': Verstappen's surprising move not to overtake Hamilton

Max Verstappen has revealed he opted against trying to pass Lewis Hamilton when backmarker Romain Grosjean ‘just completely forgot’ the rules in the Singapore Grand Prix.

Mercedes’ Hamilton won the race from pole position and went largely unchallenged except for a moment when he and the trailing Red Bull’s Verstappen caught up to slower racers.

Hamilton was forced to back off as Haas driver Grosjean battled with Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin – opening up a gap for Verstappen to overtake the world champion for the lead.

Both drivers vented to their team over the radio before Verstappen said after the race he chose not to get involved with a pass on Hamilton.

“I thought it was not fair anyway with the way he was being held up,” the Dutchman told Sky Sports.

“I had an opportunity but you can’t overtake into turn 10 and I didn’t want to take the risk.”

Sitting alongside Verstappen in the post-race press conference, Hamilton acknowledged he was vulnerable.

“It definitely got a little bit interesting towards the end with some of the backmarkers, which was extremely difficult,” he said.

“(Verstappen) had an opportunity, really. I had to put up a massive defence and even then I was racing the backmarkers. They still weren’t lifting off as I was alongside them.”

Grosjean received a five-second penalty and two penalty points on his licence for ignoring the blue flags to indicate that slower drivers are in front of lead racers.

He is now just three penalty points away from a race ban, with four more events to navigate before he is in the clear.

Formula One race director Charlie Whiting slammed the Frenchman’s driving.

“Romain just completely forgot the golden rule of blue flags,” said Whiting.

“And that is if you are in a battle you’ve got to forget about your own battle and move over.

“I’ve drilled that into them many times, and I think he completely forgot about it.

“He was so intent on his battle with Sirotkin that he just – the light panels were flashing with his race number on them – and Lewis was much much faster.

“It was probably one of the worst cases of ignoring blue flags that I’ve seen for a long time.”