Pundit Naomi Schiff backs Toto Wolff’s claim of Max Verstappen impeding Lewis Hamilton in SQ1 being a ‘revenge foul’

Lewis Hamilton impeded Max Verstappen in SQ1 at the start of the lap, and the Dutchman returned the favor.

Naomi Schiff, Toto Wolff, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton(Credits: The Independent and SI)

At the Austrian Grand Prix, the rivalry between the 2021 title contenders reignited. Lewis Hamilton faced a disappointing outcome as he failed to progress beyond the first sprint qualifying session (SQ1), finishing in P18 place due to a lack of a clean lap. During his final attempt, Hamilton encountered an incident where he initially impeded Max Verstappen, who was on a flying lap. However, as they approached Turn 1, it was Verstappen who obstructed Hamilton’s progress, returning the favor.

Following the incident, speaking to the media, both Toto Wolff, team principal of Mercedes, and F1 pundit Naomi Schiff expressed their opinions that Max Verstappen’s actions during the Sprint shoot were intentional, aimed at impeding Hamilton’s chances of advancing to the next qualifying session (SQ2). It has been deemed a ‘revenge foul’, by the Austrian Boss.

“On the other side, Turn 1 was a revenge foul [by Verstappen]. It was just to make sure that his [Hamilton’s] lap was ruined. So one was not intentional, the other one was intentional – but who cares? In the end, we looked at whether it was going to change our race or not… But I think they’re going to talk about it at the drivers’ briefing next week,” said Toto Wolff.

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“It’s quite clear that that’s exactly what it was,” said Naomi Schiff, concurring with Wolff. “You can see his frustration, from what we heard, apparently Max was saying that he didn’t think that lap he’d just completed, that he felt he was impeded by Lewis in, would have been enough to get him through, so he decided he wanted to start another lap and that’s why he impeded him in Turn 1,” she added.

Max Verstappen went on to smash the sprint race record

In the Austrian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen showcased his exceptional performance by setting a new record for the longest gap between first and second place in an F1 sprint race. The current championship leader delivered a stunning performance in the Austrian Sprint, securing a remarkable victory with a massive margin of 21.048 seconds ahead of his Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez in just 24 laps.

This extraordinary triumph marked the first time in the history of the Sprint format that a driver won by such an extravagant margin, as no previous Sprint event had seen a victory margin exceeding five seconds. Verstappen’s achievement in the Austrian Sprint adds to his impressive track record in this event. Out of the eight Sprints held thus far in F1, the Dutchman has emerged victorious in four of them.

?️| Naomi Schiff: “it’s just unfortunate for Lewis, because for him, it was not an intentional move from him, but Max was clearly a lot more intentional about what he was doing.”

Rare Naomi W ? pic.twitter.com/d2x2xhgEdo
— Hamilton Insights (@LH44_insights) July 4, 2023

Moreover, he stands alone as the only driver to win the Sprint event in each year since its introduction at Silverstone in 2021, demonstrating his prowess and consistency in this unique racing format. The Dutchman is extremely apprehensive of the newer sprint format introduced as of Baku 2023, being vocal in expressing his reservations. However, getting the job done is light work for him at this point.