FIA officials announce decision regarding Max Verstappen's yellow-flag inquiry

The complete decision from the stewards

“The Stewards listened to accounts from the driver of Car 3 (Max Verstappen), the driver of Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), team representatives, and examined positioning/marshalling system data, video footage, timing, telemetry, team radio, and in-car video evidence.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

“As Car 3 was leaving turn 7 on a push lap, a solitary yellow flag was shown. Car 44 was in front of Car 3 and had been alerted to Car 3’s approach. The Driver of Car 44 stated that after exiting turn 7, he decelerated and moved to the right to ensure he was off the racing line. Car 3 passed Car 44 before reaching turn 8 while both cars remained in the yellow flag sector. Car 3 then abandoned the push lap.

“The Driver of Car 3 indicated that he was on throttle as he exited turn 7 and then noticed the yellow flag and lifted. This was corroborated by telemetry. Within approximately 40 meters of entering the yellow flag sector, the Driver of Car 3 had completely lifted off the throttle.

“The Driver of Car 44 was braking and had decreased speed to below 60km/h at the moment Car 3 overtook. Given that Car 3 was on a push lap and had been on throttle out of turn 7 while Car 44 had slowed, the speed differential at the point of overlap was considerable, despite the fact that the Driver of Car 3 had also begun braking.

“The Stewards were convinced that the Driver of Car 3 responded appropriately to the yellow flag by lifting off the throttle and decreasing speed. The speed of [Car 44] at the overtaking point was approximately 70km/h slower than Car 3’s speed during another push lap in the same session.

“The Driver of Car 3 explained that to have avoided the overtake would have necessitated him to brake very sharply, and he believed that doing so could have potentially led to an unsafe situation.

“The Stewards concluded that the Driver of Car 3 did breach the yellow flag regulation by overtaking Car 44. However, they were satisfied that the overtake was an unfortunate outcome of the significant speed differential and, under these circumstances, decided not to impose a penalty.”