Verstappen "clearly" deserved Suzuka penalty - Whiting
F1 race director Charlie Whiting has no doubts that Max Verstappen "clearly" deserved a penalty for his first lap incident with Kimi Raikkonen in the Japanese Grand Prix.
Verstappen felt it was a "bit stupid" for him to have been given a five-second penalty for rejoining the track in an unsafe manner after he ran wide at the chicane and then pushed Raikkonen off.
But Whiting thinks there can be no doubt that Verstappen deserved punishment for the way he came back on the circuit.
"It was quite clearly a penalty because Max went off the track and rejoined the track unsafely," explained Whiting, when asked by Motorsport.com for his views on the incident.
"You are required to rejoin safely and Kimi was there and pushed him off the track. So I think that was a fairly straightforward one for the stewards."
Vettel clash
Whiting believes that the later Verstappen incident with Sebastian Vettel, when they clashed at Spoon Curve in the fight for position, could not be blamed on either driver – which is why no penalty was handed out.
"Seb tried to get up the inside, and it was a reasonable move," added Whiting. "He got halfway alongside and Max turned in – a bit of a classic really.
"Stewards don't normally give penalties unless they are sure that one driver was wholly or predominantly to blame. Opinions will vary on whether there was equal blame, but certainly no driver was predominantly to blame they felt."
Whiting also brushed off suggestions from Verstappen that Vettel should have got a penalty for it – just as the Dutchman did in China when he hit his Ferrari rival in a failed overtaking move.
"In China he came charging down the inside into the hairpin, and almost T-boned Seb," he said. "I don't think there was any similarity between those two.
"I haven't had a look at the one from China, but my recollection from that incident as it was a very clear case of causing a collision, and I think what Sebastian was doing was a genuine attempt to overtake.
"What Max was doing in China was opportunistic at best."
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14 and Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF71H clash
Photo by: Sutton Images
Fire cost Grosjean telemetry in Japanese GP
Japanese GP: Post-race press conference
Binotto F1 exclusive: "Each single day" is difficult but Ferrari is united
It’s fair to say that the 2022 Formula 1 season has delivered both the best of times and the worst of times for Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto.
Magnussen still pinching himself about F1 comeback
Kevin Magnussen says he has gained a new appreciation for the privilege of being a Formula 1 driver over the course of his 2022 comeback season.
Lundgaard: Vettel could expect “tough transition” to IndyCar
Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Christian Lundgaard said that four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel would face a hard task adapting to the demands of IndyCar if he wished to make the switch.
Could late rule changes to F1 2023 floors aid bigger teams?
The FIA World Motor Sport Council finally pushed through rule changes to address porpoising for the 2023 Formula 1 season, amid suggestions the late alterations will help bigger teams.
Nicholas Latifi: The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time F1 champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24. And now it’s happening again at his current team
Why few would blame Leclerc if he leaves Ferrari in future
OPINION: Ferrari's numerous strategy blunders, as well as some of his own mistakes, have cost Charles Leclerc dearly in the 2022 Formula 1 title battle in the first half of the season. Though he is locked into a deal with Ferrari, few could blame Leclerc if he ultimately wanted to look elsewhere - just as Lewis Hamilton did with McLaren 10 years prior.
The other McLaren exile hoping to follow Perez's path to a top F1 seat
After being ditched by McLaren earlier in his F1 career Sergio Perez fought his way back into a seat with a leading team. BEN EDWARDS thinks the same could be happening to another member of the current grid
How studying Schumacher helped make Coulthard a McLaren F1 mainstay
Winner of 13 grands prix including Monaco and survivor of a life-changing plane crash, David Coulthard could be forgiven for having eased into a quiet retirement – but, as MARK GALLAGHER explains, in fact he’s busier than ever, running an award-winning media company and championing diversity in motor racing. Not bad for someone who, by his own admission, wasn’t quite the fastest driver of his generation…
Could F1 move to a future beyond carbon fibre?
Formula 1 has ambitious goals for improving its carbon footprint, but could this include banishing its favoured composite material? Pat Symonds considers the alternatives to carbon fibre and what use, if any, those materials have in a Formula 1 setting