Red Bull have requested an official review into Lewis Hamilton’s penalty following his crash with Max Verstappen at the British Grand Prix.
Hamilton was handed a 10-second punishment by the stewards but the seven-time world champion recovered to claim a controversial win at Silverstone, while Verstappen’s afternoon ended in the barriers.
However, Red Bull felt Hamilton’s penalty was too lenient and have called on Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, to re-examine the case.
Red Bull have lodged a "petition for review" with the FIA over Lewis Hamilton's 10-second penalty at Silverstone#F1 https://t.co/Fpifot6eDA — Formula 1 (@F1) July 27, 2021
Red Bull will now present new evidence of the accident to the stewards, who will convene to decide whether there should be a review.
If Red Bull are successful in persuading the stewards into reopening the case, Hamilton could face a harsher punishment – with the most severe including disqualification from the British Grand Prix.
A team representative from Mercedes and Red Bull will have to report to the stewards at Budapest’s Hungaroring on Thursday at 3pm BST.
Hamilton heads into the Hungarian Grand Prix trailing his championship rival by eight points.
Verstappen hit the tyre barrier at 51G and spent six hours in a hospital in Coventry before he was given the all-clear.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner revealed the crash left his team with an eye-watering £1.3million repair bill.
The latest from Christian following the #BritishGP, in his regular column 🇬🇧📝 — Red Bull Racing Honda (@redbullracing) July 23, 2021
In a lengthy column, published to the Red Bull website last Friday, Horner said: “It is no secret that we felt at the time, and still feel, that Hamilton was given a light penalty for this type of incident.
“Given the severity of the incident and the lenient penalty, we are reviewing all data and have the right to request a review. We are therefore still looking at the evidence and considering all of our sporting options.
“The other significant factor is the cost-cap element of this. That crash has cost us approximately USD1.8million and an accident like that has massive ramifications in a budget cap era.”
In his pre-race notes ahead of this weekend’s concluding round before the summer break, Hamilton’s Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said: “Everyone has their own opinion on the events of Silverstone, and it was a very polarising incident.
“However, the most important thing is that Max is OK. It’s never nice to see a car crashing, particularly at such high speeds and at a corner like that, so we’re glad he emerged from the accident unscathed.”
