Lewis Hamilton: ‘Grey area’ F1 rules have favoured Max Verstappen

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton implied that “grey areas” in the Formula 1 rulebook favour Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in wheel-to-wheel battles.

Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris battled over third place at the United States Grand Prix last time out, with the rulebook costing Norris dear.

Heading into Turn 12 on Lap 52, Verstappen, holding the inside line was able to run Norris off the circuit, where the McLaren driver swept past to take third.

The stewards penalised Norris to the tune of five seconds, demoting him back to fourth, judging him to have gained an unfair advantage.

Hamilton, who is well-versed in battles with Verstappen, feels the rules and stewarding need amending to avoid further incidents of this nature.

“I mean it’s always been a grey area that’s why [Verstappen’s] got away with it for so long,” Hamilton told select media including Motorsport Week on Thursday, ahead of the Mexico City GP.

“I mean, yeah, they probably need to make some adjustments [to the rules] for sure.

“Also, we do have inconsistencies through rulings, weekend in, weekend out.

“As a sport, we do need to level up on all areas and if you look at other global sports, they have full-time refs, for example, and I’m sure that wouldn’t be a bad thing for our sport.

“But yeah, you shouldn’t be able to, I mean, I experienced it many times with Max, you shouldn’t be able to just launch the car on the inside and be ahead and then you go off and still hold your position. So, they need to definitely work on this.”

Hamilton knows Verstappen’s duelling tactics well, with the two coming to blows multiple times throughout the 2021 season.

Monza, Silverstone and Sao Paulo – where Verstappen regularly ran Hamilton to the run-off are just a snapshot of flashpoints the duo had three years ago.

Even in Hungary this year, Verstappen sought to throw his Red Bull down the inside of Turn 1, but misjudged the manoeuvre, clipping Hamilton and inheriting a penalty.

Verstappen driving within regulatory ‘loophole’

Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate George Russell argued amid renewed calls to bring in full-time stewards that “[Verstappen’s] driving is not against the regulation, it’s just finding a bit of a loophole.

“But equally, the more complicated you make these regulations, the harder it is going to be for us to race and apply a little bit of common sense.”

Norris meanwhile, the victim of the United States GP ruling, continued his stance against the penalty handed to him last weekend.

With Norris leading on approach to Turn 12, the McLaren driver argued Verstappen was the one trying to overtake once he threw his RB20 to the apex of the corner.

“I was completely ahead of Max, I was over a car length ahead of him, so I was no longer the attacking car, he was,” Norris argued.

“I was ahead of Max, so I wasn’t having to defend, he was the one attacking me, and effectively he’s gone in too hard and overtaken off the track, I’ve just maintained my position.”