Max Verstappen was unimpressed with the stewards’ decision to penalise him for the collision with Lando Norris which ruined both their races.
The pair made contact at turn three on the 64th lap of the race as Norris tried to pass Verstappen for the lead. There had already been several near-misses between the two drivers over the final stint of the race, and Norris accused Verstappen of forcing him off.
They finally clashed as Norris attacked Verstappen on the outside approaching the corner. The pair converged and made contact, then tangled again as they slid into the run-off area at the outside of the corner.
Both drivers sustained damage in the incident, but Norris had to retire in the pits, while Verstappen was able to continue after his punctured left-rear tyre was replaced. He took the chequered flag in fifth place, and though he was given a 10-second time penalty it had no effect on his finishing position.
On his return to the pits Verstappen said the penalty was “just ridiculous.”
“You can just send it left and right. What do you want me to do?”
The stewards handed Verstappen two penalty points for the collision – putting him on a total of four – after ruling he was “predominantly to blame” for the collision.
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“Car one [Verstappen] was approaching turn three with car four [Norris] alongside on his left. Before turning in, the driver of car one moved to the left, causing a collision with car four.
“The stewards determine that the driver of car one was predominantly at fault and therefore impose
the above mentioned penalty in line with precedents.”
Norris accused Verstappen of repeatedly changing his line while braking before the collision happened. The McLaren driver said he did so on two previous occasions which the stewards did not react to.
However Verstappen said he made sure he did not do that by changing his line before he braked. “I know, of course, that in the past has always been a bit of a complaint,” he told Sky. “But now I always move my wheel before I brake and then, of course, you brake in a straight line trajectory or whatever.
“So that’s always easy to say from the outside that I was moving under braking but I think the guy in the car knows best what he’s doing.”
Verstappen said some of Norris’ moves had been too risky. “I felt like sometimes his dive-bombs, he’s so late on the brakes that he went pretty much straight. One time I…
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