Verstappen furious at FIA after penalty: 'Make it 20 seconds, stupid idiots'
- Nicole Mulder
Max Verstappen was furious with the FIA stewards after they imposed a ten-second time penalty on him. The Dutchman wondered aloud whether they would not have been better off making it 20 seconds.
Verstappen furious at FIA after time penalty
For his first pit stop, Verstappen had to stand still for ten seconds and wait for the team to work on his car. This irritated the four-time world champion, who said on the radio, "Can we get 20 seconds too? Stupid idiots!"
At Sky Sports, they were unapologetic about Verstappen's comments. "You can't say that about referees. That's just not fair. They apply the rules. Don't bump into other people and you don't get a penalty," said former F1 driver Martin Brundle.
Verstappen was excellent away at the start and immediately outsmarted Carlos Sainz, who started third. He was also better away than Piastri and decided to dive on the inside at the first corner. However, his overtaking attempt did not end well, as the Dutchman went slightly wide and hit his rival's McLaren in the process.
Verstappen called the incident "bad luck", Piastri in turn calmly but critically commented on the Red Bull driver. "Really a move by a world champion," he remarked sarcastically over his team radio. Verstappen received a ten-second time penalty for the incident but thus clearly disagreed with the size of the penalty.
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
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