Max Verstappen has been told that he ‘gambled and lost out’ for the first time after his lap-one skirmish with Oscar Piastri cost him the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Defending champion Verstappen was slapped with a five-second time penalty for gaining an unfair advantage when he went off the track at the first corner to maintain the lead.
The Red Bull star had started on pole but Piastri’s lightning-fast start got him ahead of Verstappen at the apex. After the stewards deliberated, Verstappen was punished and served his penalty during a pit stop.
McLaren hotshot Piastri ended up winning by 2.8 seconds, a result which sent him top of the world championship standings and earned him praise from Verstappen. On the other hand, Verstappen – who would’ve received a 10-second penalty had it not been a lap-one incident – has been criticised for his driving by ex-Formula 1 driver now pundit Martin Brundle.
“Nobody games the regulations as well as Max, but for the first time he gambled and lost out,” Brundle wrote in his Sky Sports column. “Sometimes you can see incidents from different angles and debate the scenario and doubt your first impressions, but accelerating across the run-off area with relatively little steering lock had plainly given Max an unfair advantage and the lead.”
Verstappen wasn’t for discussing the incident, walking out of his post-race interview after just one question. In a news conference, the four-in-a-row champion said: “The problem is that I cannot share my opinion about it because I might get penalised [by the FIA].
“So it’s better not to speak about it. I think it’s better not to talk about it. Anything I say or try to say about it, it might get me in trouble.”
Asked if he was frustrated at not being able to express his opinion, the 27-year-old replied: “I think it’s just the world we live in. You can’t share fully your opinion because it’s not appreciated, apparently, or people can’t handle the full truth.
“For me, it’s better if I don’t need to say too much, it also saves my time, because we already have to do so much.
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“It’s honestly just how everything is becoming. Everyone is super sensitive about everything. And then, of course, what we have currently, we cannot be critical anyway. So, that’s fine, less talking – even better for me.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner suggested that the rules needed ‘re-looked at’ after they were rejigged for 2025. “I thought it was very harsh,” Horner stated. “We didn’t concede the position because we didn’t believe that we had done anything wrong.
“You can quite clearly see at the apex of the corner we believe that Max is clearly ahead. I can’t see how the stewards got to that conclusion. They’ve both gone in at the same speed. Oscar’s run deep into the corner, Max can’t just disappear at this point in time.
“Perhaps these rules need a re-look at. I don’t know what happened to ‘let them race’ on the first lap. That just seems to have been abandoned.”
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