Lewis Hamilton is of the opinion that Max Verstappen has gotten away with many penalties in Formula 1 in battles with his rivals due to grey areas in the sport’s regulations, Afrosport reports.
The rules were once again the centre of attraction after Verstappen and title rival Lando Norris clashed during last weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
Norris was handed a five-second time penalty for gaining an advantage by overtaking Verstappen outside of the track after both drivers ran wide.
It cost Norris a podium finish which Verstappen inherited as he avoided any punishment and Hamilton wants something to be done about it having had his own share of battles that Verstappen was not punished for, notably during the nail-biting 2021 championship battle.
“It’s always been a grey area, that’s why he’s got away with it for so long,” Hamilton said ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix. “They probably need to make some adjustments for sure.
“Also, we do have inconsistencies through rulings, weekend in, weekend out, obviously depending on which years it is. I mean, 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.
“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 is a two-time winner at the Mexico City Grand Prix, doing so in 2016 and 2019, while Verstappen is a five-time winner, including the last three in a row.
