Red Bull’s Helmut Marko says the team has new evidence which it hopes will make the crash “appear in a different light” when it is presented at an appeal hearing on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Red Bull have decided to appeal Lewis Hamilton’s British GP penalty after he and Max Verstappen were involved in a first lap crash. Verstappen spun into the tyre wall at high-speed, ending his race, whilst the Mercedes driver was able to recover from a ten-second penalty to claim victory.
The stewards admitted there was joint fault in the clash, but Hamilton was deemed to have caused the collision and was therefore penalised.
Marko claims the penalty was merely a slap on the wrist for an accident that could have had major consequences and at the time called for a race ban.
Speaking to RTL on Wednesday, the Austrian maintained his belief that a race ban should still be considered, amongst other options.
“A drive-through [penalty] or a ban at the next race,” replied Marko when asked what action the stewards should have taken.
Speaking about Red Bull’s decision to appeal the penalty, Marko hoped new evidence would put the crash in another light and encourage the stewards to re-examine their original decision.
“First of all, we are very happy that this reopening has happened. And we will now see how they judge it. But I think that what we bring forward will make it appear in a different light.
“We are bringing new facts that were not available to us at the time the race was suspended,” he added. “These facts are being brought forward and we hope that a reassessment will take place because we still believe that the penalty was mild for Hamilton.”
Marko went on to explain that Red Bull had “new footage” and “new facts” from the crash which they weren’t able to present at the time because their focus was on Verstappen’s health, after he was taken to hospital for a routine check-up because of the severity of the impact.
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