Verstappen call caps bad week for FIA decisions - Wolff

Bottas was on his first flying lap in Q3 when he came up behind a slow Verstappen in the stadium section.

Verstappen moved to the left on the exit of Turn 12 to try to get out of the way, but Bottas had to jink to the right to avoid the Dutchman and then locked up at the following corner.

The matter was investigated by the stewards but it was deemed that Verstappen did not deserve a penalty as he was not judged to have ‘impeded’ Bottas.

In the wake of the controversial decision to punish Verstappen for abusing track limits in the United States Grand Prix, Wolff has suggested that the stewards yet again got it wrong.

“The last seven days were not the most glorious in decision-making,” said Wolff succinctly.

Although the stewards decided that Verstappen had not impeded Bottas, the Finn remains adamant that his first run was ruined by the Dutchman.

“Before Turn 12 I saw him going slowly and he stayed at the exit of Turn 12 at the left-hand side,” he said.

“It definitely compromised my lap a little bit. I had to go run very close to him in Turn 12, so then you naturally lose time - and then as well my approach to 13 was compromised a little bit with the line.

“So it was not similar as going in the free air, or with no car in front. I had a lock-up in Turn 13, which I'm sure I would have not had without Max in there.

"And then I had only one shot in Q3 in the end and, you know, when you don't have a lap on the board, normally you refuel for an extra lap, which costs you time, and also you don't have the experience from the run before in the last sector, which was actually the main losses for me in Q3.

"So... yeah, it's happened and there's no penalty, so that's history.”

When asked if there would have been any opportunity for Verstappen to do more to get out of the way, Bottas said: “It is possible, I think, either before Turn 12, or I had a similar thing in practice.

"Someone suddenly came close to me and I pulled inside, inside immediately at the exit of Turn 12, so the car behind could be in completely free air. So yeah, it is possible to avoid it.”