Max Verstappen has escaped punishment, and Carlos Sainz has been warned over their first practice incident at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Early in FP1 at Turn 12, with the Red Bull driver on his first flying lap of the session, the two were flagged for "driving erratically" and then promptly placed under investigation after the session.
The Williams appeared to block the four-time F1 drivers' champion at corner entry, which caught the ire of the Dutchman, who took to team radio to vent his frustrations.
It soon came to light that Sainz was experiencing difficulties with his own radio, and could not be informed of the approaching RB22.
Nonetheless, the stewards still felt it warranted a caution. After the hearing, the official decision document stated: "On the straight approaching Turn 12, Car 55 was on the racing line and braked early as Car 3 approached from behind on a push lap. Car 3 had to move to the right to avoid a collision.
"Team radio recorded the engineer having warned the driver of Car 55 of Car 3’s approach more than once, but the driver of Car 55 explained that the cable to his radio was disconnected and hence he did not hear those messages. He said that he was preparing for a push lap and braked earlier for Turn 12 to warm his brakes.
"The driver of Car 3 said he was surprised to find Car 55 travelling so slowly on the line, but he did not consider the incident to be dangerous. The Stewards acknowledged that the driver of Car 55 was experiencing radio problems which explained why he did not hear the warning of Car 3’s approach.
"However, in circumstances where the driver was without the benefit of warnings from the team, he ought not to have been preparing his brakes on the racing line and, by doing so, he hindered Car 3.
"As the incident occurred during Free Practice and did not in fact endanger the driver of Car 3, the Stewards determined to impose a warning."
Meanwhile, in Verstappen's case, the stewards determined: "On the approach to Turn 12, Car 3 had to move off the racing line to avoid Car 55, which had slowed unexpectedly on the racing line.
"The Driver of Car 3 then slowed significantly at Turn 12 and gesticulated to the driver of Car 55 to mark his frustration that he had been impeded by Car 55. The driver of Car 55 then overtook Car 3.
"The driver of Car 55 said that he was not in any way affected by Car 3 slowing at Turn 12. No other car was affected. The Stewards therefore determined to take no further action."
Sainz was also investigated and cleared for another case of driving erratically when he encountered Paul Aron at Turn 9 and 10 during FP1.
Originally published by RacingNews365 —
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