Max Verstappen escapes penalty after overtaking Lewis Hamilton under a yellow flag.

The Dutchman was exiting turn 7 on a push lap, when a single yellow flag was displayed. Hamilton was ahead of the Red Bull and had been warned of its approach.

Hamilton said that after exiting turn 7, he slowed and moved to the right to ensure he was off the racing line. Verstappen overtook prior to turn 8 while both cars were still in the yellow flag sector. The Dutchman then abandoned his push lap.

Verstappen explained to the stewards that he was on throttle exiting turn 7 and then saw the yellow flag and lifted. This was confirmed by telemetry. Within approximately 40 metres of entering the yellow flag sector, the Red Bull driver had lifted fully off throttle.

Hamilton was braking and had reduced speed to less than 60km/h at the point Verstappen overtook. Because the Dutchman was on a push lap and was on throttle out of Turn 7 and Hamilton had slowed, the speed differential at the point of the overlap was significant despite the fact that Verstappen had also started braking.

The stewards were satisfied that Verstappen reacted appropriately to the yellow flag by lifting off throttle and reducing speed. The speed of the Red Bull at the overtake point was some 70km/h less than its speed on another push lap in the same session.

Verstappen explained that to have avoided the overtake would have required him to have braked very heavily and he considered to have done so would have potentially created an unsafe situation.

The stewards determined that the Red Bull driver breached the yellow flag regulation by overtaking the Ferrari. However, they were satisfied that the overtake was an unfortunate consequence of the significant closing speed differential and, in these circumstances, determined not to impose a penalty.

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