The Milton Keynes-based team lobbied the FIA in the hours leading up to the Austrian Grand Prix to review the stewards’ decision not to punish Hamilton for ignoring the yellow flags on his final qualifying lap.
At the time, the stewards felt that after speaking with Hamilton, the confusion over the conflicting yellow and green flags had triggered the scenario that the Mercedes driver would not back down. Therefore, they considered it inappropriate to sanction him.
But an official 360-degree F1 video that appeared later that night highlighted the fact that Hamilton had clearly passed a flashing yellow light panel before seeing green flags.
The video sparked a lot of discussion on Saturday night and, on the morning of the race, Red Bull asked the FIA if they had seen it or not.
When asked by Motorsport.com about what had prompted his team to act, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “We were pointed out on social media that there was a different camera angle, the 360 camera.
“It showed very clearly that there was a yellow light box that had been passed through and only seemed consistent with Mexico [when Max Verstappen was punished for ignoring yellows].
“Then we ask the FIA to review it again. They said they had not seen that footage before. So, for some reason, they hadn’t had access to or looked at that camera.
“So I think after looking at that and reviewing it, it became a very clear decision for them.”
With stewards accepting the new evidence, they changed their minds about Hamilton’s penalty and gave him a three-place grid drop instead of second to fifth.
Related video
