Max Verstappen disagrees with stewards but vows to "move on" from Lewis Hamilton crash

Verstappen and Hamilton crashes — Photo: © LAT Images

Italian Grand Prix

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Verstappen disagrees with stewards but vows to "move on" from Hamilton crash

Verstappen will serve a three-place grid penalty for next race in Russia

Ian Parkes

Sunday 12 September 2021 20:45

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Max Verstappen has vowed to "move on" from his latest crash with Lewis Hamilton which left him disagreeing with the penalty handed down by the stewards.

Verstappen will serve a three-place penalty for the next race in Russia after the Italian Grand Prix stewards deemed him to be "predominantly to blame" for a crash that saw the Dutch driver's Red Bull finish on top of Hamilton's Mercedes.

While there were arguments for both drivers, the stewards felt Verstappen's move on Hamilton "was attempted too late" for the Dutchman "to have the right to racing room".

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Assessing the stewards' decision, Verstappen said: "I don't fully agree with the penalty as I believe it was a racing incident.

“We were racing for position but you need two people to work together to make the corner and Lewis just kept squeezing until there wasn’t room anymore for two cars and that’s when we crashed.

"When he exited the pits, he started to squeeze me going into turn one so I had to use the green part of the track.

"It was very tight but there was room for me to go around the outside and then I was pushed onto the orange sausage kerb. I was there to try and race hard but fair.

"It’s very unfortunate what happened but we are both professionals and so we will move on.”

Horner feels argument can be made for both Verstappen and Hamilton

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has expressed his disappointment with the stewards' decision as he is convinced it was a 50-50 call.

“We are disappointed with the three-place grid penalty, but accept the stewards' decision," said Horner.

"We felt what happened between Max and Lewis was a genuine racing incident. You can argue for both sides but ultimately it’s frustrating and disappointing to see both cars out of the race in what is proving to be an exciting championship.

"The main thing is that the halo ultimately did its job and certainly this isn’t the way we intended to finish the race."