Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz found themselves in a scuffle during the first Free Practice session at the Hungarian GP, leading to a visit to the stewards.
After the meeting, the conclusion was that Verstappen would receive no further action for the incident. Meanwhile, Sainz received a warning. The meeting was called as a result of an incident during the first part of FP1. Sainz and Verstappen were noted for “driving erratically” in Turn 12. The incident was then investigated after the session.
The four-time World Champion was on his first push lap of the session, and when he approached Sainz, the Williams driver appeared to impede him at the entry of Turn 12. The Red Bull driver was forced to take avoiding action and move in order to avoid a collision.
However, during the hearing, the Spaniard explained that he was experiencing an issue with his radio and could not hear his race engineer warning him that Verstappen was approaching from behind.
A warning for Sainz
The official FIA document on the incident explained that: “On the straight approaching turn 12, Car 55 was on the racing line and braked early as Car 3 approached from behind on a push lap. Car 3 had to move to the right to avoid a collision.
“Team radio recorded the engineer having warned the driver of Car 55 of Car 3’s approach more than once, but the driver of Car 55 explained that the cable to his radio was disconnected and hence he did not hear those messages.
“He said that he was preparing for a push lap and braked earlier for turn 12 to warm his brakes. The driver of Car 3 said he was surprised to find Car 55 travelling so slowly on the line, but he did not consider the incident to be dangerous.
“The Stewards acknowledged that the driver of Car 55 was experiencing radio problems which explained why he did not hear the warning of Car 3’s approach. However, in circumstances where the driver was without the benefit of warnings from the team, he ought not to have been preparing his brakes on the racing line and, by doing so, he hindered Car 3.
“As the incident occurred during Free Practice and did not in fact endanger the driver of Car 3, the Stewards determined to impose a warning.”
The decision document was posted by the FIA at 16:06 CET.
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