Formula 1: Decision not to penalize Max Verstappen the correct one

The FIA’s decision not to strip Max Verstappen of his first victory of the 2019 Formula 1 season in the Austrian Grand Prix was the correct one.

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen made contact with Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc during what ended up being his race-winning pass in the 2019 Formula 1 season’s ninth race, the Austrian Grand Prix, at the Red Bull Ring. As a result, Leclerc went off the track.

After making this pass on lap 69 of the 71-lap race around the 10-turn, 2.683-mile (4.318-kilometer) Red Bull Ring road course in Spielberg, Styria, Austria, Verstappen went on to win this race by 2.724 seconds over Leclerc in second place.

But he had not officially won the race yet, as his race-winning pass went under investigation, meaning it was at risk of landing him a five-second time penalty that would have changed his 2.724-second victory into a 2.276-second deficit.

Here is a video of this pass.

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Despite a fake document emerging stating that Verstappen had been issued a five-second time penalty and demoted to second place behind Leclerc, no further action was taken against his race-winning pass by the race stewards.

While this decision — like pretty much any decision made by the race stewards these days — came under fire, this was undoubtedly the right call.

The most important thing to consider about this incident is its outcome on the race. Many fans have compared it to the incident a few weeks ago with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton when Vettel led the Canadian Grand Prix, went off the track and then came back onto the track in an unsafe manner, causing Hamilton to brake hard and take evasive action to avoid a collision.

Vettel won this race by 1.342 seconds over Hamilton in second place, but he was stripped of his victory via a five-second time penalty, thus handing Hamilton a 3.658-second win. Had Hamilton been able to continue at the pace he was going as Vettel went off the track and returned, he would have taken the lead anyway, so while controversial, this penalty was at least somewhat justifiable.

But unlike in that incident, at no point did Verstappen jeopardize Leclerc’s result in the race by making this move.

Yes, Verstappen did make contact with Leclerc, and that contact did force Leclerc to go off the track. But by the time they actually made contact, Verstappen clearly had the preferred line over Leclerc, and he put himself in that position by charging him down from more than 15 seconds behind in a clearly faster car with far newer tires and effectively utilizing DRS into turn three, not by driving recklessly.

That’s called overtaking and hard racing, and as rare as it has been in Formula 1, it’s exactly what is supposed to happen.

Fortunately, for the sake of pretty much everyone but Leclerc and Ferrari, the stewards recognized this after a review period of more than three hours and decided to take no action against Verstappen’s move.

Additionally, this wasn’t a one-sided incident where Verstappen simply unfairly barreled his way through Leclerc to put himself in this solid position.

As you can see in the replay, Leclerc did turn into Verstappen as Verstappen began to pull ahead once the two drivers were running side by side. Verstappen also clearly outbraked the 21-year-old Monegasque heading into the corner, so at that point, it was effectively his corner.

There was nothing wrong with Leclerc trying to battle back, just like there was certainly nothing dirty about the 21-year-old Dutchman holding his ground as Leclerc, at this point clearly at a disadvantage, attempted to do so. Once Verstappen got past his rival, he checked out.

Like Verstappen said after the race, if drivers aren’t allowed to race, why bother showing up? Why bother driver in Formula 1?

To be honest, I don’t know the answer to that question. Fortunately, the race stewards decided that they didn’t either.

The last thing Formula 1 needed was for the race stewards to micromanage yet another close battle and effectively pick the winner themselves, and fortunately for Verstappen, Red Bull Racing and all of Formula 1, that is not what happened in this particular instance.

Did the race stewards make the right decision by not stripping Max Verstappen of his first victory of the 2019 Formula 1 season and giving Charles Leclerc what would have been the first victory of his Formula 1 career, or should this victory have been stripped from Verstappen and awarded to Leclerc?