Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko believes the incident between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen was worthy of a race suspension for the Mercedes driver.
Hamilton and Verstappen collided on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix after the Briton attempted to overtake on the inside at Copse – one of the fastest corners on the Formula 1 calendar.
Hamilton’s front-wing touched Verstappen’s rear tyre, pitching the Dutchman into a spin, with sensors recording a 51G collision for Verstappen.
The FIA handed Hamilton a ten-second time penalty for causing a collision, but Marko believes a traditional penalty isn’t harsh enough when the severity of the impact is taken into account, believing a race suspension should be handed down.
“You can’t do that [penalise Hamilton] within the normal sporting code,” Marko told Sky Germany. “I don’t know what the maximum penalty is, but such dangerous and reckless behaviour should be punished with a suspension or something.”
According to Marko, the clash can’t be considered a normal incident because of where it happened on the circuit.
“If a competitor massively touches our rear wheel with his front wheel, then that’s no longer a racing accident in the fastest corner of the circuit. That is negligent to dangerous behaviour.
“Then they are all blind,” he replied when told Mercedes blamed Verstappen. “The replays showed that quite clearly. He went into our right rear wheel with his left front wheel and sent Verstappen into the barrier.”
Hamilton went on to pass Lando Norris and race leader Charles Leclerc successfully at the same corner, to go on to claim an eighth British GP win.
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