Max Verstappen escaped harsher FIA penalty as Christian Horner left furious

The FIA stewards have revealed that Max Verstappen would have ordinarily received a 10-second time penalty for his incident with Oscar Piastri at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and only got away with a five-second reprimand due to it being the opening lap of the race. Verstappen was pipped to the apex of Turn One by the McLaren driver, who then drove deep into the Turn-One left-hander. The Red Bull man tried to hang it out around the outside but ran out of tarmac and was forced to take to the run-off area. From there, he opted against giving the position back and instead tried to extend his lead.

The stewards responded with a five-second time penalty. When served during the first round of pit stops, this cycled Piastri through to the lead, and from there, the Australian racer was out of reach for Verstappen. After the session, Verstappen was visibly irritated, keeping his media answers short and staying close to silent in the cooldown room. However, the post-race stewards’ report explained that in ordinary circumstances, the 27-year-old would have received a 10-second time penalty.

Continue Reading on EXPRESS UK