Quote Originally Posted by schmenke View Post
I think this is the reason for the penalty. If the incident would have occurred earlier in the race Verstappen may have gotten away with it, or at worst, been forced to relinquish the position back to Kimi. But this was not possible on the last lap, with only a couple of corners to go.
It certainly looked like Max had no idea he had done anything wrong and was happy to be on the podium , so I'm not so sure that he would have given the position back anyway , at least not without direction from the team , and there was no time for that , as you mentioned .
Kimi didn't look like he was expecting to be on the podium , either , and looked rather embarrassed as Max was escorted out .

They seemed to both think it was just hard racing , with neither expecting that outcome .

But , the protest must have come only moments after the incident , with video evidence , cut and dried , for it to have been decided in such a short time .

Max made a mistake of an inch or two too right , and left the track .
Kimi was right on the left , and never left the track , but was left in fourth when Max left right .
Then , the stewards did right , and gave Max five , Max fourth and Kimi third .