The FIA appointed race stewards took a good look at the lap 69 incident in which Max Verstappen seized the lead of the Australian Grand Prix from Charles Leclerc and went on to claim a stunning victory which even he thought impossible after he fluffed the start badly.
Verstappen triumphed despite being gobbled into the pack and dropping down to seventh after stalling off the line and dropping back to 14 seconds on Leclerc who led from pole.
It was a remarkable drive by the Dutchman who is rocketing in stature, when he came upon the leading Ferrari with the finish in sight it was the proverbial red rag to a bull, and of course there was argy-bargy and of course the stewards looked at it after the race for three hours before declaring:
“Car 33 sought to overtake car 16 at Turn 3 on lap 69 by out-braking car 16. When doing so, car 33 was alongside car 16 on the entry of the corner and was in full control of the car while attempting the overtaking move on the inside of car 16,” read the verdict.
“However, both car 33 and car 16 proceeded to negotiate the corner alongside each other but there was clearly insufficient space for both cars to do so. Shortly after the late apex, while exiting the corner, there was contact between the two cars. In the totality of the circumstances, we did not consider that either driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for the incident. We consider that this is a racing incident.”
BREAKING:
No further action on the Lap 69 incident between Verstappen and Leclerc for the race lead
Verstappen keeps the race win#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/1CnPI3rH2U
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 30, 2019
Austrian Grand Prix: Verstappen denies Leclerc in a thriller