2021 São Paulo Grand Prix - Interlagos, Nov 12-14

[Gillian]

The video doesn't prove Verstappen touched the car. You can't see him touching the car.

I also can't believe that touching a rear wing with your fingers would result in it failing a simple test afterwards. I mean, they'd be afraid to even clean the wing with a piece of cloth if it's that fragile.

Or is Verstappen now so technically skilled that he can break a rear wing in a blink of an eye?

He would need a red cape and blue tights to achieve that just touching.

Exactly. But to be fair, we are applying common sense. So anything can happen.

I hope it all blows over and we see Hamilton P1 and Verstappen P2.

[Restomaniac]

How is our lack of knowledge about the proceedings relevant to the outcome ?

Because it would normally be an open and shut case. I’m sorry but it’s not difficult to understand.

And your assessment is based on your vast knowledge on the FIA internal procedures for handling situations as the one at hand ? You have detailed insight in which test failed and how? Why not letting them do what they do, as long as they are done by the start of the sprint ?

We saw it fail. FFS there is clear video of it. I can now only guess you are being intentionally obtuse.

I’ll not take this conversation any further as it’s a waste of my time.

[TNTHead]

Any updates on the weather forecast for sprint race and race?

[bonjon1979]

Hilarious that the FIA stewards can touch, inspect and move the wing, no?

How is it possible that they can do this if it can alter the car before it's tested?

Whole thing is a bag of dicks and if the FIA allow Mercedes to get away with this "reasonable doubt" angle, the sport will be thrown in the bin.

Max did absolutey nothing that could have made that car fail a test and anyone that see's the closer video can see this as well.

Doesn’t matter, as everyone calling for Hamilton’s dsq. Rules are rules.

[basti313]

Hilarious that the FIA stewards can touch, inspect and move the wing, no?

How is it possible that they can do this if it can alter the car before it's tested?

Whole thing is a bag of dicks and if the FIA allow Mercedes to get away with this "reasonable doubt" angle, the sport will be thrown in the bin.

Max did absolutey nothing that could have made that car fail a test and anyone that see's the closer video can see this as well.

Doesn’t matter, as everyone calling for Hamilton’s dsq. Rules are rules.

Why? I think the situation is clear on video. Max will be DSQ for manipulating the wing. At worst they will find some 5 or 10sec for Ham.

[Tizz]

Because it would normally be an open and shut case. I’m sorry but it’s not difficult to understand.

And your assessment is based on your vast knowledge on the FIA internal procedures for handling situations as the one at hand ? You have detailed insight in which test failed and how? Why not letting them do what they do, as long as they are done by the start of the sprint ?

We saw it fail. FFS there is clear video of it. I can now only guess you are being intentionally obtuse.

I’ll not take this conversation any further as it’s a waste of my time.

No, I simply find it incomprehensible how much people claim to know. We now absolutely nothing other than Hamiltons car failed for one test. We don't even know exactly which test and by how much. We don't know if Mercedes have a reasonable explanation and we don't know how FIA is supposed to deal with these matters. We have two very grainy videos where one seems to show that Max did touch the wing and the other where Max seem to try and compare how steep his and Hamiltons wings are without touching. We do know that Max is summoned to meet the FIA at 9.30 local time but we don't know why. And yet we know exactly what the outcome should be. To me that makes no sense.

[LM10]

Let's look at it from this point of view: Haven't RedBull had evidence to prove it even before qualifying? They obviously have, otherwise they would have not warned Mercedes 1 hour prior to qualifying (as per articles). Did Max touch/investigate the rear wing of Hamilton out of nothing or because there was something going on in the background? I'd say it's the latter.

To sum it up, what Max has done under parc ferme might have mixed things up significantly, but if RedBull can prove that the wing was illegal before Max touched it, Hamilton should be disqualified if the rules say. Penalizing Max for touching the car might be a bit of a headache, as for example Seb touched cars too in the past. Though, it must be said that nobody cared back then as it did not have any consequences. This time Max touched the car in doubt of legality, before it was investigated by the FIA. Not a smart move. Considering he actually touched it of course which we can't see from the poor footage material we have here.

[Phil]

My guess is that Max being called to the stewards is fo serve one purpose: to answer if he touched the part in question or not. If he did, i dont see how that part in question is punishable, especially with margins so tight. Quesfion will be if he can start the race like that ir if they will need to fix it and get a penalty for that.

Probably similar would be, what if the car gets damage during qualifying that makes it infringe a rule and also quicker? Would they be penalized for that? Get the opportunity to fix it during park ferme?

[bonjon1979]

We know he’s been summoned for breach of parc ferme rules don’t we. And we know that he’s bang to rights because we all saw it. We also know that the very part that Hamilton is under investigation for was the very part that max was filmed touching.

[Mr.S]

Difficult to judge this. What the FIA said that this the rear wing/DRS was illegal & has to be changed before the race. So I would say he goes to the back of the grid for the sprint. That is fair, Disqualification - I dunno. But his laps were illegal as per FIA.

Max just touched Lewis' rear wing & didn't do anything. But you could argue that he broke the rules. In which case @ worse, he will get a 2/3 place grid penalty for just touching another car - more likely warning.

This is like comparing murder to a person swearing ! Verstappen will be quite unlikely to get any penalty for touching a car though

[Oleo]

The test to measure the DRS gap literally involves pushing an 85mm object into the DRS gap and see if it fits through and people think Max broke the wing by holding a fist/hand next to the wing, with maybe a light touching in a similar manner. Unbelievable...
There is too much precedent of drivers touching other cars for anything other than a reprimand.

[bonjon1979]

Difficult to judge this. What the FIA said that this the rear wing/DRS was illegal & has to be changed before the race. So I would say he goes to the back of the grid for the sprint. That is fair, Disqualification - I dunno. But his laps were illegal as per FIA.

Max just touched Lewis' rear wing & didn't do anything. But you could argue that he broke the rules. In which case @ worse, he will get a 2/3 place grid penalty for just touching another car - more likely warning.

This is like comparing murder to a person swearing ! Verstappen will be quite unlikely to get any penalty for touching a car though

If max touching the wing caused the gap to be bigger, would you still say hamilton should be disqualified? Is it then fair for a driver to do something to an opponents car to get them disqualified? The conundrum that the fia face now is that max was clearly seen touching the part in question, merc said will argue that he is responsible for them failing the test. And will shout it to the roof tops which will look terrible. Max should’ve kept his hands to himself. FIA have little choice but to give merc the benefit of the doubt and a minor reprimand for max resetting things to as they were.

[214270]

The timing of this incident is interesting, and makes me wonder if Red Bull have been sitting on this, like a zero-day exploit.

I may very well be wrong but I believe the RB query isn’t new and is specific to wing flex. The FIA impounded a rear wing from HAM after Mexico due to this query. This is the 3rd chapter of RB trying to explain Mercs straight-line speed. They’ve gone from engine chatter to suspension squat and now the wing. What happened after quali as I understand it has nothing to do with the initial flex query; it’s a DRS infringement.

It’s all very curious because it doesn’t explain why VER was lingering and fiddling with HAMs rear wing. The DRS gap in the closed position was to spec. If he had suspicions testing it in the closed position would be pointless.

[Phil]

There is too much precedent of drivers touching other cars for anything other than a reprimand.

When has another driver or person touched a part that was later investigated and deemed to infringe the rules?

[Ryar]

We know he’s been summoned for breach of parc ferme rules don’t we. And we know that he’s bang to rights because we all saw it. We also know that the very part that Hamilton is under investigation for was the very part that max was filmed touching.

Did he touch? That's hard to prove with that low resolution video.