Lewis Hamilton: F1 stewards decide on punishing Brit after Max Verstappen complaints | F1 | Sport

Lewis Hamilton has escaped punishment from the F1 stewards despite a complaint from Red Bull star Max Verstappen over the Mercedes driver’s actions on the track. The Briton faced an investigation from the FIA over his driving behaviour behind the safety car, with Verstappen left unhappy. But the seven-time championship winner will keep second place in Melbourne after finishing behind the reigning world champion.

Hamilton dived up the inside of Verstappen at turn three on the opening lap and managed to squeeze past the Dutchman. That left Verstappen behind the two Mercedes drivers during the opening stages and could have made his afternoon more difficult, had it not been for three red flags in a dramatic 58-lap race in Australia.

The two-time world champion was left fuming with how he had been shoved off the track by Hamilton, but the stewards decided no punishment was warranted.

Verstappen again complained on the team radio about Hamilton’s conduct behind the safety car, accusing the 38-year-old of failing to follow FIA rules on the distance between his car and the safety car in front. But once again, the stewards sided with Hamilton.

In releasing the details of their decision, the FIA confirmed an allegation had been made that Hamilton had contravened Article 58.8 of the sporting regulations which relates to “failing to follow the safety car no more than 10 lengths apart”.

Verstappen fumed over the radio over the incident and ordered his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to report an alleged infraction to the stewards after claiming Hamilton was further than 10 car lengths behind the FIA vehicle: “Mate, this is more than 10 car lengths. Check it!”

However, the report explained that the Silver Arrows star was the leading car behind the safety car driver Bernd Maylander and was therefore able to “dictate the pace and, if necessary, fall more than 10 lengths behind it”.