Max Verstappen has admitted a mistake at the start and apologized to Oscar Piastri after the first corner collision. The world champion had a collision with the McLaren driver after the start and wanted to pass the Australian on the inside, but the two touched each other at the exit of the corner and spun.
Both were able to resume the race afterwards, but they were then only far behind. Verstappen received a time penalty of ten seconds and two penalty points for his action.
“The start was good, and then I tried the inside and quickly noticed that the gap was closing,” describes Verstappen. “I wanted to come out because of course I didn’t want to collide with Oscar. But unfortunately we touched each other.”
He doesn’t blame the Australian. “The thing is, when you’re in that position you concentrate on the car in front of you. You commit, and at least that’s how I feel, but when you start from one or two you never really look behind you.” said the Dutchman.
“I tried and then realized he didn’t see me. So I tried to pull away, but we touched. That’s on me,” he admits.
However, Red Bull’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko does not completely absolve Piastri of the blame: “I think that Piastri could have left a little more space in the first corner, but good,” the Austrian told Sky.
But the Australian sees it differently: “For me there was no overlap in the curve. Max apologized and the penalty speaks for itself,” he waves off. “It is what it is. At that point I knew that I had to try to fight back. I knew it would be difficult, but the collision with Colapinto was the pin in the coffin for my race.”
Immediately apologized to Piastri
Verstappen went to Piastri immediately after the race to apologize for his maneuver, which could have cost McLaren the constructors’ championship. “The most important thing for me was to apologize to Oscar because I had nothing to gain or lose,” he says.
“You don’t want something like that to happen – especially not with him. He’s a great guy. But what happened was just unfortunate,” said Verstappen. “And the fact that we both turned around wasn’t nice. He’s a friend of mine, so I don’t want to go into the break feeling strange.”
But although Verstappen took responsibility for the collision, Red Bull was anything but happy with the commissioners’ decision to punish the world champion for it. “I thought ‘let them race’ applies at least to the first lap,” says Marko and thinks that the ten seconds are “already a harsh punishment.”
And Verstappen consistently blocks questions about it: “To be honest, I don’t want to talk about it. I’m just happy that the season is over,” he says.
“Stupid idiots!”: Will there be another punishment?
He had already expressed his opinion over the radio during the race: “Can we ask after 20 seconds?” he blasphemed on the radio and then sent unpleasant words to the FIA: “Stupid idiots!”
“That wasn’t very diplomatic,” grins Marko when asked about the radio message. The Austrian continued: “Those are the emotions. At a moment like that you don’t exactly think diplomatically. Maybe you shouldn’t broadcast everything. In football, not everyone has a microphone around their neck.”
Team boss Horner sees it the same way, believing that there will be such statements from athletes in every sport. But: He himself said some time ago that you should never criticize the referee – and Verstappen basically did that with the radio against the FIA.
When asked about this, Horner has to grin. “Circumstances change, but drivers don’t,” he says.
“You don’t have to broadcast every message”
Formula 1 is unique in a way because it gives access to such emotions. “You’ll never find a camera or a microphone in a football or rugby locker room,” Horner said. “It’s unique, and sometimes not every message needs to be broadcast.”
But it was broadcast and it’s hard to imagine Verstappen getting away with it unscathed. Because the way the FIA already deals with a “fuck” from him in the press conference shows that Verstappen can certainly still expect a punishment.
For his swear word he was punished by the association with community service – it’s quite possible that there will be something else. When asked what he actually has to do there, Verstappen reaches back into his subtle bag of criticism: “That’s what we’re doing in Rwanda.”
As a reminder: The FIA gala at the end of the season will take place there shortly – including compulsory attendance. For some it is definitely a punishment.
With twelve penalty points in “parental leave”?
With his two penalty points, Verstappen now has eight. That means: If he gets four more, then he will be banned for one race like Kevin Magnussen. And since his first penalty points only expire after the eleventh race of the season at the end of June 2025, the Dutchman has to be careful.
But he sees it casually: “Maybe I’ll make twelve when the baby is born,” he alludes to the news announced yesterday that he is expecting his first child next year. “Parental leave, so to speak.”
“We have to be careful,” says Marko and doesn’t agree with the punishments. “For certain stewards, this punishment is usually more severe. But that’s a problem that everyone has. It’s been mentioned many times that more consistency would be better for the sport.”
Verstappen, on the other hand, emphasizes that he “no longer understands anything” when it comes to penalties and that after his collision he “expected 20 seconds, 30 seconds or, I have no idea, stop and go.”
“But it’s okay. Whatever. I don’t get upset about something like that, it’s not worth my time,” he clarifies. “As I said, what’s most important to me is that I apologized to Oscar.”