As usual Randy Pobst is jumping to conclusions without having all the information...
He says " Can Lewis see you at this point? No, he’s looking the other way at the apex."
But that is not the issue. HAM knew VER was there.
Everyone can verify that because his team told him so over the radio.....TWICE
First when leaving the pits, his team says "it's gonna be tight on exit", and just before steering into the chicane: "Verstappen with you now".
And you can see VER both in the mirror and in the cameraview you see his front wing (so that would porbably have been in his peripheral vision). So when his team said "VER with you now" and HAM really wanted to exactly pinpoint VER position, he could have glanced in his mirror for a fraction of a second even before entering the chicane..
And it's of course doubtful that HAM can enter the exact same chicane and leave enough room for NOR, see @0:13:
(apparently HAM didn't have an issue seeing NOR, but I don't hear Pobst about that)
But apparently not enough room when VER sits in the same position as NOR when entering the chicane. (see @3:03)
So Pobst argument of HAM not seeing VER or not knowing he's there is imho absolute moot.
And HAM&NOR passing next to eachother through the same chicane without NOR being forced on that sausage curb proves that there is enough room for 2 cars in that chicane, unless 1 driver decides not to.
I wonder if HAM decided the right thing colliding with VER, and VER extending his lead by 2 points but having 3 gridplaces penalty.
HAM came right out of the pits with 100% new tyres. In the chicane just after the start, while leaving enough room for NOR, HAM still came out fastest.
So I don't see how this would go different with VER.
So I think HAM made the wrong bet, with both having a good chance coming fastest out of the chicane like what happened with NOR, and coming just from the pit, maybe being faster than VER in general on that first lap so if not faster through that chicane, maybe oppertunity to pass him anyway, being right behind VER.
But eventually we"ll see in Sochi if VER takes a new PU and see the results (I think HAM also still needs to take a new PU)