Verstappen insider accuses FIA of ‘double standards’ as Hamilton footage emerges

Daniel Juncadella, one of Max Verstappen’s teammates for the upcoming Nurburgring 24 Hours, has accused the FIA of “double standards” after Lewis Hamilton escaped a penalty for making an offensive gesture in the Miami Grand Prix.

It comes after Juncadella himself was punished for the same offence in the World Endurance Championship last year.

FIA ‘double standards’ highlighted after Lewis Hamilton gesture

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As reported by PlanetF1.com on Tuesday, untelevised footage from the Miami Grand Prix showed Hamilton waving his middle finger at Alpine driver Franco Colapinto following a collision between the pair on the opening lap.

A clip captured by Hamilton’s onboard camera showed the Ferrari driver removing his right hand from the steering wheel before making the gesture as he passed Colapinto on the back straight.

Hamilton, who eventually finished one place ahead of Colapinto in sixth, estimated after the race that the damage to his car had cost him roughly 0.5 seconds per lap.

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Juncadella was hit with a fine of €5,000 (£4,318/$5,876 at current exchange rates) – $4,000 of which was suspended – at the 2025 WEC season finale in Bahrain for waving his middle finger at rival Augusto Farfus.

The WEC stewards described Juncadella’s gesture as ‘rude, disrespectful and wholly inappropriate in motorsport.’

Responding to the footage of Hamilton making the same hand signal in Miami, the Spaniard accused the FIA of inconsistency.

In a post to social media, Juncadella wrote: “So I take it there wasn’t a fine, was there?

“The FIA’s double standards… They never fail.”

Put to him that the gesture made by Hamilton was no big deal, he added: “I don’t think it’s right for him to do that. But slap him with a €2,000 fine, just like they did to me.”

Juncadella, along with Jules Gounon and Lucas Auer, is set to team up with Verstappen as the Red Bull driver makes his highly anticipated debut in the Nürburgring 24 Hours next weekend.

Verstappen found himself at the centre of a swearing row during his title-winning 2024 season when he used foul language in an FIA press conference at that year’s Singapore Grand Prix.

The Dutchman was forced to undertake what the FIA described as ‘some work of public interest’ after swearing in front of the media.

Verstappen responded to the sanction by staging a protest for the remainder of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, offering a series of short and one-word answers in official FIA press conferences and at one stage holding an impromtu media gathering in the paddock after the official FIA session had ended.

Verstappen went on to serve his punishment ahead of the FIA’s end-of-season awards ceremony in Rwanda.

The FIA responded to the Verstappen saga by imposing new restrictions on drivers using foul language ahead of the 2025 season.

After pushback from drivers in F1 and the World Rally Championship, however, the governing body agreed to differentiate between so-called ‘controlled’ and ‘uncontrolled’ settings.

It means that swearing remains prohibited in formal settings like press conferences, with drivers given more leeway in ‘uncontrolled’ situations including team radio messages, where emotional outbursts are more common.

Hamilton’s gesture in Miami is almost certain to have fallen into the latter category.

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