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1 day ago
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Sporting advisor Helmut Marko claims that Red Bull's ServusTV showed "very clear footage" of Charles Leclerc "hits" Max Verstappen in Barcelona.
However, the fact that the FIA stewards did not issue any penalty further "upset" Verstappen, according to Marko, especially in light of the later incident with George Russell, for which Verstappen received a costly 10-second penalty and three points on his super license.
Verstappen's three-stop strategy completely collapsed after the late safety car came out due to an engine failure in Kimi Antonelli's car, which ended up in the gravel at Turn 10.
This caused a mass final pit stop, and Red Bull only had hard tires for Verstappen, while his rivals had softer sets at the restart.
Verstappen lost control exiting the final corner, which allowed Leclerc to close in on him on the straight; the two drivers hit each other's wheels entering the first corner, where Leclerc ended up overtaking.
The judges opened an investigation into the incident, but concluded that neither driver was "wholly or predominantly at fault", and emphasized that both drivers agreed with that assessment, so no further action was taken.
However, Red Bull sports advisor Helmut Marko had a different opinion after what he saw on ServusTV.
"I have to say in Max's defense: ServusTV showed very clear footage of Leclerc hitting him at 300 km/h in Barcelona on Monday," said Marko in an interview with OE24.
"But nothing happened. Of course it upsets him."
Verstappen's race then went downhill – contact with George Russell at the first corner sent Verstappen off the track, and he was then ordered to cede fourth place to Russell, which led to another contact with the Mercedes driver at the fifth corner, apparently out of frustration.
Charles Leclerc talks about Max's incident
Leclerc reflected on the Verstappen incident after the race, accusing the four-time world champion of trying to "crush" him, although he played down the seriousness of the incident.
"I would probably have been a lot more vocal if it had been the other way around," Leclerc said. "He was fighting for third place so he was trying everything to get him back."
"I think he knew it was going to be very difficult on the tyres he had. Honestly, I don't have a special feeling about it. It wasn't anything special," the Monegasque said. "I overtook him on the inside. He tried to squeeze me on the dirty part of the track. Then I had the advantage because I had more speed because of his mistake."
“Then I tried to get the lee of the McLaren, I moved a little to the left, and he didn’t seem to want to move. We touched a little, but it was nothing special.”
Verstappen finished the race in 10th and is now 49 points behind the drivers’ championship leader, Oscar Piastri, who took his fifth win of the season in Barcelona.
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