In this pyrotechnic final of the season, there no longer seems to be a weekend without controversial episodes involving the two contenders for the world title, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. In Brazil they had both been called up by the commissioners for different reasons, and Hamilton was disqualified from qualifying on Friday. In Qatar it was the Dutchman who was penalized for failing to slow down under the double yellow flag still at the end of qualifying. This time, in Saudi Arabia, it is again Hamilton to have ended up in the center of the viewfinder of the race direction.
In fact, the seven-time world champion was called up by the commissioners for just one failure to slow down under double yellow flag, which would have taken place during PL3. Hamilton is expected by the commissioners at 19.00 local time, 17.00 in Italy. The episode disputed in Hamilton occurred at 17.22 Saudi time, therefore during the first part of PL3, taken at 17.00. Paradoxically it would seem that Verstappen would have caused that double yellow flag. In fact, from some images that appeared on Twitter, we can see how the # 33 car proceeds slowly on the track on the left and is overtaken by Hamilton’s car, while on the right you can see the luminous panels that highlight the dangerous situation. There is also a precedent in this regard during free practice, which does not speak in favor of Hamilton. Lando Norris in the 2020 Styrian GP was sanctioned by three positions on the grid for ignoring a single yellow flag in PL1, surpassing Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri in that case.
But the problems for # 44 are not over. At the same time, in fact, Hamilton was called to report to the race direction also for the obstruction against Nikita Mazepin, always during the third free practice session. In that case, the Englishman of the Mercedes did not notice the arrival of the Russian’s car and dangerously hindered him, risking to cause an accident. Already at the moment the reigning champion had complained to his pit wall, guilty of not having warned him of the arrival of the Haas # 9.
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