JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Max Verstappen refused to offer his opinion on the decisive penalty that cost him victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, saying he risked further sanctions if he did and that “people can’t handle the truth”.
Verstappen received a five-second penalty for skipping the inside of Turn 2 on the opening lap and retaining the lead while fighting with eventual race winner Oscar Piastri.
The penalty saw him lose the lead to Piastri in the pit stops and, despite keeping pace with the McLaren, finished in second place.
The stewards said Piastri was entitled to the corner because, as the driver on the inside, he was alongside Verstappen’s car at the apex, which, according to the FIA’s driving guidelines, meant he did not have to leave the Red Bull space at the exit.
When Verstappen was asked about the move, he refused to give an opinion and said he risked a penalty from the governing body if he did.
“Yeah – the start happened,” he said. “Turn 1 happened. And suddenly it was Lap 50. It just all went super fast.
“So, yeah. The problem is that I cannot share my opinion about it, because I might get penalised also. It’s better not to speak about it.”
Pushed on whether potential retribution from the FIA over swearing was his reason for not speaking his mind, he appeared to reference new misconduct regulations that were introduced ahead of the season, which included fines and potential bans for “any words, deeds or writings that have caused moral injury or loss to the FIA”.
“I know I cannot swear in here, but at the same time, you also can’t be critical in any form that might ‘harm’ or ‘danger’… Let me get the sheet out,” he said. “There’s a lot of lines, you know?
“So that’s why it’s better not to talk about it – you can put yourself in trouble, and I don’t think anyone wants that.”
Verstappen went on to say that quotes being taken out of context on social media were another reason he was reluctant to talk about the incident in public.
“I think it’s just the world we live in,” he said. “You can’t share fully your opinion, because it’s not appreciated, apparently. Or people can’t handle the full truth.
“For me, honestly, 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.
“It’s honestly just how everything is becoming, everyone is super-sensitive about everything. And of course, what we have currently, like we cannot be critical anyway. So that’s fine. Less talking, even better for me.”
He added: “It just has to do with social media in general. And how the world is. I prefer not to talk. Or not a lot.
“Because sometimes your words can be twisted or people interpret it in different ways. It’s honestly better not to say too much. So that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner turned up to his post-race media session with a printed still image from Verstappen’s onboard camera that showed Piastri’s front wheel in line with the mirror of Verstappen’s car.
Horner’s defence appeared to be based on Verstappen having nowhere left to go and he called on the FIA to review the driving guidelines.
“When you look at that [the image], I can’t see how they got to that conclusion,” Horner said. “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, so perhaps these rules need a look at.
“I don’t know what happened to let them race on the first lap, that just seemed to have been abandoned. I thought it was very harsh.”
Red Bull could have avoided a penalty by ordering Verstappen to give the position back to Piastri after Turn 2, but Horner said the pit wall did not deem it necessary at the time.
“We didn’t concede the position because we didn’t believe that he’d done anything wrong,” he added. “You can quite clearly see at the apex of the corner, we believe that Max is clearly ahead.
“The rules of engagement they discussed previously and it was a very harsh decision.
“If we’d have given it up, the problem is you then obviously run in the dirty air [behind Piastri] as well.
“You could have dropped back behind, the problem is you then are at risk with George [Russell in third] as well. The best thing to do was at that point, we got the penalty, get your head down, keep going.
“I think what was a great shame today was that you can see our pace versus certainly the McLarens or all other cars in that first stint on the medium [tyre], we were in good shape.
“We had to serve the five-second penalty and thereafter on the same basic stint as Oscar, he finished 2.6 seconds behind, so without that five-second penalty today, it would have been a win.
“There’s always going to be a difference of opinion over a very marginal decision like that.”
