Red Bull team retains lawyer to explore penalty appeal options
Jul.21 - Dr Helmut Marko says the remainder of the fierce 2021 title battle will now become "even more tense".
Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton clashed with Red Bull's championship leader Max Verstappen at Silverstone last Sunday - and Marko says Red Bull has now retained a lawyer to look into whether they can pursue a harsher penalty.
"He (the lawyer) has to look into what is possible in such a situation, within the framework of the existing sporting laws," the 78-year-old Red Bull official told Kronen Zeitung.
"We can't just let this go. It was really lucky that nothing serious happened to Max. The car and probably the engine are scrap. That can't be.
"A race suspension would be just," he insisted.
"It was an irresponsible act by him. Hamilton needs to know what the consequences are. A race suspension would be just."
Relations were already highly charged between the two title protagonists prior to the explosive British GP.
"The relationship will certainly become even more tense now," Marko told RTL. "Let's put it this way - it was never a relaxed relationship.
"But that's exciting for the audience," said the Austrian. "We will behave within the fair, sporting methods.
"We know we have a great package. This is a major setback, no question about it, and we think it is a very unjust one. But we're strong enough to take it.
"We won the sprint at Silverstone with ease, and we would have won the main race too - that was very clear. We have proven that we are competitive on every race track this year.
"Budapest will be similar, although it has completely different track characteristics. It has always been dominated by Mercedes but that is no reason for us to be afraid.
"We assume that it will be very close again, but hopefully the duel will take place on a fair level. Then we are very optimistic that we will win again."
However, whilst declaring Hamilton's 10-second penalty as "ridiculous", Marko admitted: "Maybe the regulations are to blame. They are quite restricted.
"We should probably revise the code, including the stewards system. Perez got 5 seconds for marginal contact without anything flying off the track, and they could have made Hamilton drive through the pits too. But they didn't."
Former F1 driver and British commentator Martin Brundle, however, says Red Bull can only challenge Hamilton's penalty if "new evidence" comes to light.
"I am told by Red Bull that there is data to prove Lewis was significantly faster into Copse than at any other time and he would not have made the corner without running wide and inevitably contacting Max," he told Sky.
"Presumably, that will be made publicly available, and if Red Bull feel they have new evidence they may well make an appeal to the FIA as to their perceived degree of fault and leniency regarding Hamilton."
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
Oh ffs Red Bull. Leave the sport if you can't take the heat. F1 as a sport is dangerous. How can their be new evidence, as the whole thing was shown from many different angles & slo mo. If what Martin Brundle has seen comes to light showing that LH was faster, I hope Red Bull make a public apology & vice versa. The first thing LH asked when coming into the pits after the crash was, Is Max OK. He was told Yes, so why shouldn't he celebrate after his win?
There, not their🙄 I hate predictive text
Red bull leave the sport .red bull and max is F1 at the moment and the future of f1.max will still be racing long after Hama's has retired.coming soon
Unless Hamilton shoves him off one too many times
And your point is?
RB is not F1, Hard competition requires acceptance of the knocks as get on with it. If RB can't take it, get out and let others show how it's done. Max is aggressive on the track and only survives if others get out of his way. It works both ways Max. To quote Murray "to finish first, first you have to finish"
Seems to be alot of noise over nothing. If the role was reversed, had it been Hamilton that was wiped out, would we be getting all this whinging, whining, complaining, threats of lawsuits etc. Odd how Damon Hill never threatened to sue Schumacher over running him off the track in Suzuka. Nor was there alot of crying and whining when Schumacher tried it again with Villeneuve and wiped himself out. And let's not forget how aggressive Verstappen can be and was. On the slo mo replay, you don't see Verstappen turning away from Hamilton, you see his hands turning the wheel to the right.
i
Most of the sane people involved in this say it was a "racing incident" involving 2 guys who were not going to give an inch to the other. Hamilton was penalized for it, which in of itself was controversial amongst the chattering classes.
Between Marko, Horner and Ecclestone, they've lost a lot in my eyes with their on going petulance. Why don't they act like they've been there before, rather than throwing tantrums and trying to make mountains out of a mole hill. I'd love to put my honest thought on this situation, but I'll leave it with :stfu and race".
Dave, absolutely spot on👏👏👏🏁A point I tried to make about MVs hands turning right, only to be informed that apparently I'm stupid & that it was a r/h corner, so MVs hands would be turning right🙄 Remember Spain & the move made by Max? Horner's response to that was, 'Lucky Lewis pulled out of that or they would both have been in the wall.'
Linda, only one 'stupid' comment in this entire string and yours was not it. Really well reasoned thoughts all down the page except for the one jerkwad. Dave summed it up quite well.
Linda, this was a right turn..and just as a by the way Lewis has completed this manoeuvre twice already on Albon in the past..in short it's becoming a bit of a signature move for him..or do Hamilton fans suffer from short term memory manoeuvre loss..interesting..smiley face with clappy hands emojis
Wake up Marko.
I'm no Hamilton fan but racing is racing
Multi 21...... its ok for his drivers to break the rules.. Ah Seb wanted to win so much said Horner at the time....
So did Lewis last weekend
Let them RACE..... If you cant stand the heat leave the kitchen
I agree completely with your comments, Max left room for Lewis on the inside so for me he compromised his position on the track and his right to turn in on the racing line. The slo mo you mentioned showed Max turn the wheel see Lewis and straighten the wheel before turning had right in a fu manoeuvre without thought of the consequence of his action. Definitely a racing incident. Who says you cannot overtake on the inside of Copse, Lewis did it twice more in the race most notably against Charles.
I have been a F1 fan for many years, I am 70 and would like to mention that Verstappen could have given way as easily as Redbull expected Lewis to do, in my book its a racing incident and Redbull should start to concentrate on the next race, they have been lucky with the way the tracks have fallen this year, we should now see Mercedes coming back on form. Just my view.
Nice to see several neutral thoughtful posts. Enough of the whiners and gloaters. Red haze racing crash.....the end. Yep, it's time to quiet the poseurs and revive STFU&R. Bring on Hungary.
The overall main thing is that Max was not seriously hurt on Sunday
I agree with all the above comments however. Red Bull above all else are extremely arrogant. Arrogance is one way of managing a race team, but it has it's consequences and does not buy many friends. They dominated the sport for four years and then whinge when Mercedes dominate. Nothing is ever their fault. So they blame their engine supplier and make life difficult for Renault. They have no respect for others unless things are going their way in the way they want.
As above, if the boot was on the other foot on Sunday and it was LH in the barriers, you can 100% guraantee that RB would still be blaming Lewis - it's in the Red Bull DNA
In MV they have a very talented, but aggressive young driver. This season he has matured somewhat, but is still over-aggressive and head-strong. If Red Bull have such a strong car this season, why the aggression. Max has the speed and talent, but he needs to calm down, think about his racing and what the end-game is. That is how you string a championship together.
That said, there is nothing wrong with 1 on 1 combat, but there have been so many times this year where LH has backed off to avoid contact
It is great to see these two driver's fight it out. However, the view of many has been that contact was inevitable. I agree, but I have always expected that it would be Max having Lewis off - because of that aggression
Lewis has shown in seasons past that he is a great racer and genarally fair and clean in his racing - remember Bahrain in 2014 with Rosberg
I am not saying that LH was in no way to blame on Sunday. However, I do believe it was a racing incident and like so many over the years (as in comments above) Red Bull should man-up and move on. Rather than whinge on and disrespectfully talk about a 7 time world champion being "desparate" and wondering if LH would be "able to sleep at night", Red Bull should show less arrogance, more sportsmanship and show the word how good they are through good clean racing
An over sensitivity to infringements in the heat of battle as a result of litigation would take away excitement for the fans.
Red Cow?
I really enjoyed the races over the weekend. Clearly Max was the fastest driver out there. The race incident was unfortunate. There is a perverse incentive in pulling stunts like that based on a mere 10 second penalty. But I don't think any driver is out there purposely making contact. I can't imagine that.
And although I am sick of Hamilton and I am pulling for Max, you must admit that falling back, getting a 10 second penalty and then still winning the race is impressive.
And do we really want to bring lawyers into this? The last thing we need is having the second oldest profession adjudicating every bump and tap. The reason they race all these races is because the championship is decided over the course of a season. You can't sue your way to a championship. Get over it and lets get racing!
Lewis won the race only because his car was able to be repaired while the session was red flagged..it shouldn't be allowed, but it is..
Spot on.
If it hadn't been Hamiltons car needing repairs it wouldn’t have been red flagged.
And surely if ur the cause of the collision or at least culpable and under investigation, repairing ur car should send u automatically to the back of the grid..as his own engineer, Andrew admitted the damage to his wheel would have caused a dnf only for the repairs allowed under the red flag, so u can see the advantage he gained..while his competition was taken out and has untold damage and may face a future grid penalty if RB needs to replace the power unit..it does seem somewhat unfair..and I can picture Toto having a fit if shoe was on the other foot..
Again.... if it was LH out of the race instead of MV would all you RB types be as loud and passionate in your kvetching and complaining? I'm betting no. And that's ok. Opinions are like a certain rear orifice. Everyone has one. But to those still whining and whinging... if LH carried on like this how would you react? I'm betting with lines like "stfu and race" or "get out of the kitchen if you can't stand the heat:.
In fairness.... none of the Horner Marko nonsense as far as I know been said by Verstappen. Could it be that he gets the concept of racing on the edge and that sometimes that leads to racing incidents? Horner Marko and all the other whingers are just politicking.
Ignore Verstappens aggression but whine about Hamiltons.
It's a bit of a paradox somewhat that Lewis is a clean driver and Max is bulldozing his way round the circuit..Lewis has how many penalty points on his licence now 12 I think? 6 I believe which are for being involved in collisions..Max has a total of 4..none involving a collision..the numbers are self explanatory methinks..
✅ Checkout the latest 50 F1 Fans comments.