Lewis Hamilton exceeded track limits nearly 30 times – so why was Max Verstappen punished?

[ASFN Admin]

Sunday’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix delivered all that and more than F1 fans would have expected. Lewis Hamilton held off a charging Max Verstappen in the closing laps to take a stunning victory and, for the first time in some years, it looks like we have a genuine fight between the two men on our hands. Yet there was still plenty of debate and controversy in how the rules over “track limits” were being enforced. We break down what took place below. What happened It was ultimately a culmination of issues which led to confusion in the middle of the race and Verstappen handing back the lead to Hamilton within moments of taking it. However, these are two separate issues. One was drivers running off the track on the exit of turn four, meaning they could carry more speed through the corner apex and define the track in a more favourable way to gain lap time. This was monitored and punished in qualifying, but not the race – at least initially. Hamilton repeatedly left the track at turn four before being warned not to by his team or he would run the risk of a five-second penalty. Verstappen tried to avoid leaving the track at turn four – as he thought it was not permitted – and did so until his team informed him that Mercedes were consistently doing so and were not being penalised. He then changed his approach. The second issue was Verstappen completing his overtake of Hamilton off the track, which is not legal. But should the Dutchman have given the position back, or charged off ahead and tried to negate a potential five or 10-second penalty?

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