During the penultimate lap of the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix, reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton launched his attack on the inside of Max Verstappen, before being forced to maneuver off the track by the young Red Bull driver.
Hamilton got on team radio almost immediately to complain about Verstappen’s defensive move and the fact that he had cut him off under braking, however since he was by no means alongside the Red Bull, technically the FIA had no grounds for siding with the Mercedes driver.
According to Autosport, his team went on record citing Verstappen had driven “erratically and in a dangerous manner,” as per Article 27.5 of the FIA Formula 1 sporting regulations, though the team then notified the stewards they were withdrawing their protest.
It may have had something to do with Hamilton tweeting the following message moments before the withdrawal: “There is no protest from either myself or @MercedesAMGF1. One idiot said we have, but it’s not true. Max drove well, end of. We move on.”
That tweet was then deleted and replaced by: “There is no protest from myself. Just heard the team had but I told them it is not what we do. We are champions, we move on. End of!”
Mercedes F1 exec Paddy Lowe commented that Hamilton “drove one of his strongest races of the season to recover to third – and it could even have been second save for a rather controversial maneuver by Verstappen at the final chicane.”
Champ or no champ, there is no rule saying you have to accommodate an opponent. Either way, you can watch the footage and draw your own conclusions about what exactly went down between those two in Suzuka.