Formula 1: No penalty against Verstappen – the stage is finally over

This long period of time can easily be described as a scandal for the FIA. The four commissioners from Brazil met in a video conference on Thursday – and even after four hours they couldn’t even agree on whether they should deal with the issue again!

This stage is clearly wearing the hat of race director Michael Massey (42). The Australian considered the crash on lap 48 a “tough race” after he “considered punishing Verstappen!”

After this belated “judgment” one should perhaps prevent this exhausting right to a retrial! Because the judges’ decisions (even if you can hardly understand them) must be final. And you don’t have VAR that can interfere with Formula 1. If you need two days to vote against a retrial, you’ve missed your job. One F1 fan realized five minutes later that there was no new evidence from Mercedes.

After half an hour of desert Qatar training, the usual suspects took command of the sand-strewn runway. Verstappen is ahead of Norris, Bottas, Hamilton, Gasly and Leclerc. In the end, World Cup leader Verstappen was clearly ahead of Alpha star Toure Gasly, Bottas and Hamilton.

The Alfa-Sauber drivers, who still have 900 km to go in Formula 1, behaved very cautiously for about two seconds, as was usually the case on Friday – and in the end, as usual, Haas Ferrari of Schumi and Mazepin appeared …

The topic of human rights (homosexuality) has hardly been touched upon in Formula 1 – it will likely be in two weeks’ time in Saudi Arabia. Nobody wants to burn their fingers even though the government of Qatar says: “We are open to all discussions!”

But only: sport (the 2022 FIFA World Cup) and politics have long surrendered to these controversial countries. Hamilton (“We must go where they send us”) at least made a silent protest in a rainbow helmet.

As for the global fight against racism, Formula 1 drivers led by Lewis Hamilton have participated in every race for more than two years. You can’t go wrong with that!

Even at the end of the first practice session without incident, GP Circus was still waiting for an official FIA paper on the ‘Verstappen/Hamilton’ case. In short: incredible, scandalous.