F1 News: No 'crying' or 'moaning' about penalties

(GMM) As he leaves Mexico with a 10-point chunk taken out of his championship lead, Max Verstappen insists he is not going to “cry” about the penalties, while team boss Christian Horner shows why one was wrong.

The Red Bull driver not only received two 10-second penalties for his latest wheel-to-wheel battles with title rival Lando Norris, but two penalty points against his Formula 1 super license.

Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 leads Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL38 Mercedes on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Mexico at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on October 27, 2024 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

McLaren’s Norris called the moves “dangerous”, “dirty”, and “unfair”, and even the international media was scathing. “Verstappen loses his nerve,” declared Roger Benoit of Blick newspaper.

Tagesanzeiger newspaper added: “The Dutchman is performing wild maneuvers against his world championship opponent. It’s as if he’s worried about the world championship title for the first time in a long time.”

As for Le Parisien, its writer says the stewards were “surprisingly far less lenient” with Verstappen than they were with Norris just a week ago in Austin.

Unsurprisingly, Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko defended his protégé.

“The penalties were very severe,” he told Sky Deutschland.

“I think this was an overreaction to what happened in Austin.”

Triple world champion Verstappen, however, not only sounded unrepentant when addressing the media, but also unfazed. “I don’t know, maybe they should give me 30 seconds next time and I can go for some kind of world record.

“I don’t know, it is what it is,” added the 27-year-old, whose championship lead diminished from 57 points prior to Sunday’s race to 47 after the checkered flag.

“I’m not going to cry about the penalties. We accept it and move on.

“The real problem is that we are too slow, and that’s why I have to engage in these kinds of battles. That is actually the problem,” Verstappen explained.

“To be honest, 20 seconds is a lot, but I don’t want to moan about it – that’s not me. And I’m not going to say what I really think here. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether people agree with me or not – it’s not going to change the penalties.”

When asked if he’ll do anything different next time he is wheel-to-wheel with Norris, starting in Brazil this weekend, he smiled: “Maybe I’ll turn the engine off and have a drink next time. I’d have enough time for that.”

Horner Shows Why Verstappen Double Penalty Wrong

Christian Horner brought data to argue against Max Verstappen’s penalties at the F1 Mexico City Grand Prix, but confirmed Red Bull will not appeal the decisions.

Verstappen was handed two 10-second penalties for forcing F1 title rival Lando Norris off track on two occasions on the same lap during Sunday’s race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Red Bull team principal Horner presented to media a data print out claiming to reveal that Norris had carried more speed into Turn 4 when battling Verstappen than at any other point in the race.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says Lando Norris entered Turn 4 15km/h faster during his battle with Max Verstappen v his quickest lap and “wouldn’t have made the corner” #F1 #MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/ICaONixsgB

— Lewis Larkam (@Lewis_Larkam) October 27, 2024

“First of all, yes, I think it was very harsh to give two ten-second penalties,” Horner said. “I think there’s something more fundamental. I mean obviously there’s been a reaction to last weekend, and I think it’s very important for the drivers’ steward and the drivers to sit down.

“If I show you here on the GPS – this is on the run down to Turn 4 – this is actually Lando versus Lando, and what you can see is that the orange line is Lando’s fastest lap of the grand prix, so the point he is braking for Turn 4 and then obviously executing the corner.

“What you can see, is that on lap whatever it was [10] that’s been the incident with Max, he is 15 kilometers an hour faster, and later on the brakes than his fastest lap of the grand prix. He wouldn’t have made the corner. He would have run off track. You can see from his onboard steering.

“Of course at this point of the race, he’s got probably 80 kilos more fuel than at the point that he’s done his fastest lap. It used to be a reward of the bravest to go around the outside, I think we’re in danger of flipping the overtaking laws upside down, where drivers will just try to get their nose ahead at the apex and then claim that they have to be given room on the exit.

“And you can see quite clearly he’s effectively come off the brakes, gone in super, super late to try and win that argument as far as the way these regulations are written, and then at that point you’re penalized.

“Now every karting circuit, every indoor karting circuit around the world, if you’ve got the inside line you control the corner. It’s one of the principles and the physics of racing. So they just need to get back to basics that if you’re on the outside you don’t have priority.

“Otherwise we will end up with a mess over these last five races. So I think it’s really important that the drivers’ steward, together with the drivers, agree something that is sensible rather than what we’re getting.”

Horner added: “It just changes the principle, the advantage used to be, the advantage was to have the inside line. The advantage will be to have the outside line and just brake later and claim foul. So I think we just have to be very careful.”