Max Verstappen said he no longer understands how penalties are awarded in Formula One after receiving a 10-second penalty for a collision with Oscar Piastri on the opening lap of Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Verstappen attempted to pass Piastri on the inside of the first corner, but hit the rear of the McLaren, spinning both cars.
When the four-time champion was informed of his penalty by his team via pit-car radio, he replied: ‘Can we ask for 20 seconds? Stupid idiots’. Despite the apparent insult towards the race stewards, Verstappen was not further investigated by the FIA.
Speaking after the race, Verstappen said he would apologise to Piastri for the collision, but felt the 10-second penalty was inconsistent with previous incidents. ‘I don’t understand anything anymore, but that’s OK,’ he said. ‘Anyway. I won’t get angry about things like that. It’s not worth wasting time and I’ll take a break.
‘The most important thing is that I apologise to Oscar. That’s all.’
Verstappen said he tried to pull out of the overtake when he realised Piastri had not seen him and joked that he thought he would be given a lot of penalties after the collision.
‘The thing is, I think when you’re in that position you focus on the car in front and you commit,’ he said. ‘You never realise, I mean, that’s how I think too when you start first or second, you never really look behind.
‘So I tried and then I realised he didn’t see me there, so I tried to get out of it but then we still crashed and obviously it’s my fault but I was expecting maybe 20 seconds, 30 seconds, I don’t know, stop and go. Maybe there’s something to talk about for next time.’
When Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was asked why Verstappen had used the word ‘idiots’ over the radio in response to the penalty, he defended his driver’s use of language.
‘I mean, circumstances change, but drivers don’t, and sometimes I think it’s very unfair,’ Horner said. ‘And we hear all the drivers railing and raving, you know, we even hear the team principals railing and raving from time to time, which is a bit unfair sometimes.’
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