The FIA race director Michael Masi has outlined why the stewards believed Lewis Hamilton was ‘predominantly to blame’ for the high-speed crash with Max Verstappen as the two battled it out for the lead of the race at the British Grand Prix.
With Verstappen on pole, Hamilton piled on the pressure for the opening eight corners, trying to find a way around his main title rival, before making contact with the Dutchman at high speed, spearing the Red Bull driver into the barriers at Turn Nine.
Subsequently, the British driver was handed a ten-second time penalty, with Red Bull left fuming it should’ve been a more severe punishment.
Asked what the stewards believed Hamilton should have done differently to avoid the incident, Masi replied: “I don’t know that they express a view of what he should have done but having looked at it all, their view was that he was predominantly to blame for that.
“I haven’t had the opportunity, because I have been going through a whole load of other things to actually read the decision in full, but the big part was, similar to what happened with Charles [Leclerc] later on, he could have, say, tucked further to the apex.
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