If touching a wing that is put under under 200mph aero load could break it then lewis should thank max for saving his life.
Doesn't look like he broke it. Looks like he compared it with his own car which brought about the original complaint
Did Hamilton get .5 second advantage from a couple of millimeters? Probably not. Does that matter? No because it's an infringement. Did Max affect the state of the Merc wing by sticking his hand In it? Probably not. Does that matter? No because it's an infringement. I hate stupid penalties, but it seems it's either no pen for both, or both to the pit lane.
I doubt Max touching it changed anything...But... Putting his hand in there gives the ability for Merc to suggest interference. Some components are designed specifically for load in a particular way, it could be fairly easy for Merc to suggest or even demonstrate that doing otherwise could change it's behavior. What Max has done here is a sliding challenge in the box when he probably didn't need to. Now he's given the ref something to think about.
I think the problem here (and I’m speculating as I don’t have any knowledge at all) is that reading between the line, I’d bet Hamilton’s DRS is 1mm or less over the maximum limit, and of course if Max has touched that area of the car in parc ferme, 1mm is such a tiny amount that it of course gives credence to the idea that his “interference” may be the answer. Of course, the 1mm hasn’t given Ham 4 tenths and he was smashing Max up in the first sector to be honest, but rules are rules and someone has ****ed up. Presumably, these wings are fairly rigid though and a touch from Max wouldn’t amend the settings that the engineers would have dialled in on the rear wing before they left? I can see both getting a 10 place penalty or something- I can’t see one getting a punishment without the other
I like that, we can have a look at what a reverse might grid look like. Seems to me the logical thing to do is check Bottas' wing.
They cannot give an illegal.car a 10 place penalty. They cannot also make a rather silly but clearly no actual harm touch the same penalty. That would be absolutely ridiculous. The parc firme rules are clear but it is a pure technicality which has no possibility of gain bar political. Hamilton is boned here. Theres a clear infringement that can reduce drag unless it could be shown that it was not there in q1 or something but hamilton improved and improved each lap so his times are clearly an issue for him. Nobody can tell how.much this is until stewards tell us but he was clear of bottas so his times unfortunately hang him. I fail to see how a touch could disrupt a wing that is designed to open under heavy aero load and close at 200mph etc etc. Imo a 3 place penalty for.max and start from pit lane for hamilton. A total disaster
My feeling about the delay, is not about anything than the severity of the penalty, which will be influenced by was it intentional. Re Max and his engineer meddling. If it can be shown they could have changed a setting, intentionally or otherwise, then the foul is the FIA allowing them to gain access. I am confused why Max got involved and did the team bosses support an illegal entry. This is quite a mess, with all three parties implicated.
The only available penalty for Hamilton is DSQ from quali, the only get out is something breaking or claiming it was Max meddling. It's pretty obvious Max was just having a nosey but still.
Max is due to appear at the stewards at 12:30 uk time, so hopefully we will know a bit more by 13:30? Max touching Lewis's car is only a breach of sporting regs whereas Lewis's rear wing would be technical regs. I'm not sure there is much difference between penalties for either regs being breached but rules are rules. It they have both broken the rules they should both receive a punishment but Mercs drs error would seem to give a slight advantage in quail and races. Max may have gleaned technical info by feeling the rear wing - so while on the face of it it's just a touch he may have learned something that Red Bull didn't know that could give them an advantage!!!! All very interesting. Are we going to take guesses at punishments? Lewis = 5 place grid penalty - some excuse the stewards say mitigates the issue and it wasn't mecs fault so no disqualification. Max = 5 place grid penalty - maintains the gap between the 2 on grid
There's zero chance that Max actually did any damage, but it gives the stewards an excuse. The last thing they want to do is end the title fight by making Lewis start from the pitlane. I expect they will say they can't be certain the wing they tested is in the same condition as the one raced and let him off. I also don't imagine Max will get anything more severe than a reprimand.
Karun has tweeted a very sensible summary of the situation- he said Andre the Giant could sit on the rear wing and wouldn’t make a dent, so Max couldn’t have bent it. But that from a neutral point of view, stick them on back of grid for the fun and watch them come through He’s captured the Internet in a nutshell right there! Lewis is slam dunk here- it’s what they do with Max that is the question
Very true but the rule is not about causing damage to a competitors car it is about touching a competitors car. So that's a Slam Dunk for Max there is video footage! As for the punishment - well if that was the only issue of the day then it should just be a reprimand. I think we all feel that some of the punishments are tweaked to have minimal impact on championship battle and I guess that will influence the decision!
Theres a video of what max verstappen did. Everything else is pure politics. Politics takes time to arse cover cos you.just know if you give toto wolff any room to scream.unfiar he will. They have impounded Hamilton's wing. There could be more to it than just wrong setting
The tyres are part of car so theres precident for people not even getting a penalty for touching. This should be some sort of penalty as it needs to be clear to keep all teams in check. However it should be nowhere near the penalty hamilton gets as his car is out of spec. People lose full race results for cars out of spec.
If the video shows them will tools fair enough but if touching a wing can change its setting the car is unsafe lol.
So we have less than an hour to go before FP2 and still no word! This must be a tricky one or are they just scared to announce the conclusions?
I would say major politics going on. They have to sort it before the grid in the sprint race but I suppose they dont need to for p2
