Lewis Hamilton left ‘riled up’ by Ferrari engineer radio message, claims Karun Chandhok

Hamilton believed Verstappen had forced him off track, though the stewards decided no action was needed. Instead of taking the escape road, the Briton cut across the grass, resulting in his penalty.

Many fans felt Verstappen should have been penalised for both incidents involving Hamilton. Speaking on Sky Sports F1 (26/10, 8:25 pm), Karun Chandhok said he was ‘surprised’ Ferrari did not warn Hamilton to back off and avoid a penalty.

“That’s a big blow for Hamilton there. You know what, I’m surprised, because we saw it from the commentary box.

“We have a microcosm of the data that the engineers and teams have down on the pit wall. I’m surprised Ferrari didn’t tell Lewis to just back off.

“Let’s just back off, the gap that he gained was evident for everyone to see. Just tell him straight away, back off, allow the other cars to come close behind and, not necessarily let them pass, but just give away the time advantage. Then you’ve got a case to make.”

Karun Chandhok questions Ferrari’s handling of Lewis Hamilton’s penalty

Hamilton’s race engineer, Riccardo Adami, tried to keep him focused after the penalty, saying: “We have a 10-second time penalty for the incident at turn four with Verstappen. We don’t agree but let’s keep the head down.”

But the 40-year-old was not happy with the decision or the explanation. He replied: “That’s such **** man. The grip is so small there. The grip there is so low.”

Regarding that, Chandhok felt that Adami did not provide enough detail in his communication.

“That’s poor communication, because you’ve unnecessarily riled up the driver without giving him all of the facts.

“And I think, that’s not actually true. He’s not been given a penalty for the incident, he’s been given the penalty because he gained time.”