Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. were in action during the race on Sunday, with RB's Yuki Tsunoda crashing at the start. — Reuters
Max Verstappen expressed more concern about his car's performance than the penalties he received in Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix, which his Red Bull team boss Christian Horner deemed 'excessive'. The triple Formula One world champion started alongside Ferrari's race winner Carlos Sainz but finished sixth after incurring two 10-second penalties for forcing title rival Lando Norris off the track. This result reduced Verstappen's championship lead over McLaren's Norris to 47 points with four races remaining.
When asked if he would have done anything differently, Verstappen joked that next time he might consider getting a drink during his pitstop. 'I mean, the engine was off for 20 seconds, so I had enough time,' he added. Verstappen acknowledged that 20 seconds was a significant amount but he wasn't going to dwell on it. 'The biggest problem I have is that today was a bad day in terms of race pace. That was quite clear again on the mediums and on the hard tyres,' he told reporters.
The champion felt the incident at turn four that led to the first penalty was 'more of a question mark' while the second at turn seven was 'what it is'. 'To get back to sixth is alright but then I couldn't even fight the Mercedes cars in front, I just had no grip. Just sliding a lot, couldn't brake,' he said. In Austin a week ago, Verstappen and Norris also clashed, with the McLaren driver receiving a penalty for being pushed wide but ending up ahead and not giving the place back.
'Last week that was alright, this week 20-second penalty. It's what it is,' said Verstappen. 'I just keep racing.' Horner separately told reporters that the penalties were 'very harsh' and an apparent reaction to what had happened in Austin and the subsequent backlash.
'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 (to the corner),' he added. 'It's something that just needs to be tidied up so that everybody knows what is acceptable between now and the end of the season. Otherwise, we're going to end up in a mess at the upcoming races.' Horner stated that Red Bull would not be seeking a right to review the stewards' decision, unlike McLaren after the US Grand Prix.
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