Verstappen's fresh F1 penalty ire is misguided

Max Verstappen says he doesn’t “understand anything anymore” after he was handed a 10-second penalty for his first lap clash with Oscar Piastri in Formula 1’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Verstappen was trying to wrestle second place from Piastri with a late dart to the inside of the McLaren driver at Turn 1 on the opening lap.

The pair made contact and both were sent into a spin that dropped them out of second and third.

The stewards deemed Verstappen to be at fault and handed him a 10-second penalty as punishment - something Verstappen wasn’t impressed with over the radio, saying “could we ask for 20 seconds? Stupid idiots”.

Verstappen made it clear after the race that his anger wasn’t with Piastri and that he’d apologised to the McLaren driver, in a somewhat less angry but still frustrated take on the events.

“I tried to grab the inside, and I quickly realised, once I committed to it, that the gap was closing and I wanted to try and get out of it, because I didn't want to cause a crash with with Oscar,” Verstappen said.

“But unfortunately, we still clipped each other, but I already apologised to Oscar. It's not what you want to happen and especially not with him, he's a great guy. It happened. It's just, a bit unfortunate.”

When asked if he was surprised by the penalty he said “honestly, I don't want to talk about it. I'm just happy that the season is over.

“For me, the most important thing that I had to do is just apologise to Oscar, because I have nothing to gain, nothing to lose. I went for it. It didn't work out. And especially also for him that we both spun.

“It's not nice, he's a friend of mine, so I don't want to have any, like, weird feelings or whatever, going into the break.”

Piastri said “The penalty speaks for itself” while Verstappen understands why Piastri didn’t see him and expected a bigger penalty for himself.

“The thing was that I think when you're in that position, you're focusing on the car ahead, you commit. You never really, I mean, that's how I feel it as well. When you start first or second, you never really looked behind,” he explained.

“So I went for it, and then I realised s*** he doesn't see me there. So I was like, trying to get out of it, but then we still clipped.

“Of course, that is on me, but I was expecting maybe 20 seconds, 30 seconds, I don't know, stop-and-go. It's maybe something to talk about for next time.”

When asked by The Race if he understood what penalties are given for, given Verstappen’s frustration with his one-place grid penalty in Qatar and his bemusement that his Abu Dhabi penalty wasn't bigger, he replied: “I don't understand anything anymore, but it's fine, whatever.

“I'm not gonna get angry about stuff like that. It's not worth my time. Just have a break.”

Verstappen also picked up two penalty points for the incident, meaning he’s up to eight now, four short of an automatic race ban.

“Maybe I go to 12 when the baby is born. So paternity leave,” Verstappen joked.

This one makes sense

Josh Suttill

Of all the penalties handed out in the 2024 F1 season this feels like one of the most clear-cut, correct decisions, despite Verstappen's view.

Verstappen and Lando Norris’s controversial clashes in Austin and Mexico were far more complex and divisive, this one just feels pretty simple.

Verstappen had a right to try something but it was a mistake that had big consequences for Piastri and a punishment was necessary.

You could argue for some first-lap leniency but this was a fairly isolated one-on-one situation you get on a first lap with no other cars playing a role in the incident, unlike a lot of similar colisions.

Verstappen’s frustration is likely more focused on his discontent with previous penalties such as his Qatar grid drop and Mexico punishments.

As he says, he’s got a break from it and that will be why he elected against making unloading his anger at penalties his 2024 sign-off.

But those same frustrations will surely resurface in early 2025 especially when the points are reset in another potential multi-team title fight.

After all, the mooted 2025 racing rules changes are only set to take away some of the grey areas Verstappen exploits so well, rather than ease his frustrations.