Max Verstappen coy on Jeddah penalty: “Anything I say, it might get me in trouble”

The reigning world champion opted for silence as he wanted to escape FIA punishment and social media trolling if he spoke out on receiving an opening-lap penalty in Jeddah

Max Verstappen refused to talk about the first-lap incident that cost him a shot at winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, claiming he could end up in hot water with the FIA and that “people can’t handle the truth”.

The Red Bull driver had started on pole position in Jeddah but was challenged off the line by eventual race winner Oscar Piastri and cut Turn 2, leading to the stewards handing him a five-second time penalty.

Verstappen fell behind the McLaren during the only round of pitstops and ultimately finished 2.843s adrift of Piastri at the end of the grand prix.

Paraphrasing his catchphrase, the Dutchman replaced ‘simply’ with a curse word preceding ‘lovely’ instead, when he was given the news of his punishment over the team radio.

Asked about the incident in the post-race press conference, Verstappen was more tight-lipped about the call.

“Yeah, the start happened, Turn 1 happened, and suddenly it was lap 50,” he said. “It just all went super-fast.

“The problem is that I cannot share my opinion about it because I might get penalized also. So it's better not to speak about it.

“I think it's better not to talk about it. Anything I say or try to say about it, it might get me in trouble.”

The stewards’ explanation of the incident stated that they had “reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry and in-car video evidence and determined that car 81 (Piastri) had its front axle at least alongside the mirror of car 1 (Verstappen) on the inside”.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Alex Pantling - Formula 1

The reasons continued: “In fact, car 81 was alongside car 1 at the apex. Based on the Driver’s Standards Guidelines, it was therefore car 81’s corner and he was entitled to be given room.”

George Russell, who started third, said he was surprised Verstappen did not just give the place to Piastri upon returning to the track, while Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and advisor Helmut Marko spoke about their unhappiness at the stewards’ decision.