F1 race director Charlie Whiting revealed ahead of talks about the matter in the drivers' briefing at the German Grand Prix that two stewards investigations had been launched in Hungary over Verstappen's actions.

One of those had been during the race, and the other after the chequered flag. But the conclusion both times was that Verstappen had not broken F1's rules in his tough defence.

Speaking about the matter at Hockenheim, Whiting said: “I think a lot of people, including the teams concerned, felt that Max had moved more than once to defend his position - which we don't believe he did.

“There is no actual rule about moving in a braking zone, although it is a fairly undesirable thing according to most drivers. But we will discuss this later [in the briefing].

“I think it was on the edge of being fair, but the stewards – I asked them to look at both incidents during the race, and I asked them to review it again after the race - and they felt it was firm but fair. 'Robust defence' was the explanation they used.”

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