Helmut Marko, a Red Bull advisor, has outrageously claimed that Lewis Hamilton avoided a penalty incident during the Monaco Grand Prix because of Niki Lauda's passing earlier in the week.The Austrian was seen venting his displeasure towards the stewards following Hamilton’s win in Monte Carlo, and he believes events earlier in the week played a part.The British driver triumphed whilst Max Verstappen lost second place due to his own five-second penalty because of his pit-stop release endangering personnel - Valtteri Bottas on this occasion.Based on that incident, Marko believes the Dutchman’s history with the race officials continues to play a part.“We were ahead of Bottas, but apparently Max can’t do much good in the eyes of the stewards," he told De Telegraaf, as per Inside Racing.

“I realise that they are not his biggest fans.”

Marko then later suggested that the world champion should have been penalised for turning in on the Red Bull during the latter stages of the race, but "because he wore a red hat in honour of Niki Lauda, that would certainly not be the case".

Bottas, however, accused Verstappen of "drifting right" into him down the pit-lane and claimed the penalty was justified.

“It’s a tricky one because there is no way I could ever gain back the positions I lost, except at least Max’s position with his penalty," the Finn commented.

“But the position I lost to Sebastian there’s no way I’d ever gain it back. He did his penalty, I think it’s OK. There’s not much to say more than that.”

The race inevitably was a head-to-head between Verstappen and Hamilton, who was having to nurse his medium tyres to the finish.

However, the race itself proved an emotional one for everyone involved as Hamilton held off Verstappen, and survived a late collision with the Red Bull driver to win in Monaco.

Their collision late on can be seen in the video below.

Britain's Hamilton repeatedly complained that he was not going to be able to make the tyres near the end, but managed to hold on to take his fourth win of 2019.

The British driver dedicated his latest Grand Prix victory to Niki Lauda, who passed away on Monday.

He now holds a 17-point lead over his teammate Valtteri Bottas in the championship and is seeking his fifth win of 2019 in the next F1 Grand Prix in Canada.