Mercedes lodges protest against Verstappen's driving

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Mercedes has lodged an official protest with the FIA over Max Verstappen's driving during the Japanese Grand Prix.

At the end of the penultimate lap when fighting over second place, Hamilton attacked Verstappen under braking for the chicane. With Hamilton going for the inside line. Verstappen moved across to defend the inside, causing Hamilton to switch to the outside and run straight on, taking to the escape road.

Hamilton rejoined over 1.4s behind Verstappen and could not close that gap during the final lap of the race, finishing third behind the Red Bull. However, Mercedes has lodged a protest against the Dutchman's driving while the race results are still provisional.

"A protest has been lodged by Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team against car 33 driven by Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing relating to an alleged breach of Article 27.5 of Formula One Sporting Regulations, in that he allegedly drove erratically and in a dangerous manner, forcing car 44 to take evasive action at turn 16," the FIA confirmed.

"The Stewards are conducting a hearing. The results are still provisional."

Verstappen has come under fire for his driving on a number of occasions already this season, with both Ferrari drivers critical of his defending in the Belgian Grand Prix earlier this season. The 19-year-old was not penalised on that occasion.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.