The F1 stewards have revealed Max Verstappen had no obligation to hand over fourth place to George Russell in the final stages of the Spanish Grand Prix.
At a safety car restart, Russell attacked Verstappen for position into Turn 1 after the Dutchman got out of shape at the start of the lap.
Russell made minor contact with Verstappen, forcing the latter into the escape road.
After he re-joined, he stayed ahead of Russell before being instructed to hand the position back by the Red Bull pit wall.
Verstappen fumed at the instruction but made way for Russell as they approached Turn 4 - however, the two then collided in an incident some have labelled as a deliberate shove from Verstappen.
The 27-year-old was subsequently handed a 10-second time penalty and three penalty points on his super licence.
The four-time champion dropped to 10th in the classification and is now just one penalty point away from being issued a race ban.
Verstappen was investigated for his overtake on Russell off the track - but the stewards revealed he would not have been penalised if he had stayed ahead of the Mercedes driver.
“Car 63 attempted to overtake Car 1 on the inside of Turn 1,” read a statement from the stewards.
“While the front axle of Car 63 was ahead of the mirror of Car 1 at the apex, the driver of Car 63 momentarily lost control of the car and collided with Car 1, forcing it wide and into the escape road.
“Car 1 re-entered the track at Turn 3 ahead of Car 63. Given that the reason for Car 1 being forced off the track was the loss of control and the resulting contact by Car 63, Car 1 did not deliberately leave the track.
“We accordingly took no further action.”
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