Max Verstappen learns Japanese GP penalty fate after breaking same rule as Lewis Hamilton
Everything started busy for the stewards in this weekend that witnessed Lewis Hamilton followed by Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri all breaking the Japanese Grand Prix Code.
Max Verstappen successfully escaped penalty charges because he disobeyed Formula 1 race director instructions at the Japanese Grand Prix. Verstappen violated the identical procedural violation that Hamilton performed without receiving any major disciplinary action.
In his pre-event notes, F1 race director Rui Marques made it clear that “cars in either the fast lane or working lane [of the pit lane] may not overtake other cars in the fast lane except in exceptional circumstances”. But both Hamilton and Lance Stroll fell foul of that rule during Friday practice.
And there were two more rule-breakers in FP3 on Saturday morning. Verstappen was hauled in front of the stewards, as was Oscar Piastri – both found to have failed to follow that instruction from Marques.
In an official FIA decision document, the stewards confirmed that both Verstappen and Piastri “overtook several cars in the fast lane whilst traversing the working lane to the practice start area” during that final practice session of the weekend.
They confirmed: “In relation to the general subject of overtaking in the pit lane, the fact that a warning was issued for the four cases this weekend is not to be taken as a precedent and the stewards note that future breaches of pit lane procedures may involve a sporting penalty.”
