Max Verstappen expresses displeasure over five-second penalty at Las Vegas GP

Despite the initial excitement surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Max Verstappen expressed significant pessimism about the event. In recent interviews, he criticized the racing event, stating that it seemed more focused on entertainment than on the actual sport.

There were concerns among everyone involved, including his engineer, about Verstappen’s preparations for the Las Vegas GP. However, it has been reported recently that the Dutch sensation incurred a five-second penalty during the race.

Max Verstappen reacts to penalty

At the Grand Prix, the Red Bull driver initially took the lead in his way by forcefully overtaking Charles Leclerc in a way that raised several heads in questions.

Verstappen maintained his position, beside Leclerc as he went wide through the corner, which resulted in Leclerc being pushed into the escape area. Throughout the process, Verstappen also had to drag himself back on the track from the escape area kerbs.

After the incident occurred, Charles Leclerc was vocal through the team radio, to express the need for the incident to be “addressed right now”. Which, Red Bull responded by telling Verstappen that they believed that he had positioned himself righteously alongside Leclerc to lead the race.

However, despite Red Bull’s efforts, race stewards decided to inspect the incident and subsequently hammered Verstappen with a five-second penalty.

Ultimately, Gianpiero Liambase took over the team radio to tell Verstappen that, “You have been given a five-second penalty for that incident, but you’re already two seconds ahead behind so just keep eking out that gap to the stop.”

Verstappen responded rather sarcastically by saying, “Yeah that’s fine, send them my regards!”

Verstappen hits out at Toto Wolff

The inaugural edition of the Las Vegas Grand Prix had a bumpy start as the first practice session lasted less than 10 minutes before getting red-flagged and cancelled.

Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari encountered a water valve issue after starting the session, requiring a rebuild. This led to a delay of the FP2 with the process of repair being held.

Ferrari’s team boss, Fred Vasseur expressed his strong feelings regarding Sainz for his 10-place grid drop for a battery change, which was not his fault at all. Later on, it turned out that Wolff had a raging opinion about the incident too.

When a journalist described those simultaneous events as a “black eye” for Formula One, Wolff became visibly upset and said, “Completely ridiculous, FP1, how can you even dare try to talk bad about an event that sets the new standards to everything?” 

“And then you’re speaking about a f***ing drain cover that’s been undone. That has happened before! That’s nothing, it’s FP1!”

Although Verstappen agreed that loose drains were not a new problem for the Formula One tracks, he also expressed how there is still room for criticism regarding the event.

The three-time World Champion then clearly stated that Wolff would not behave in the same way if his team was in jeopardy instead of Ferrari now.

Verstappen told Viaplay, “That is true of course, that it happened before, but you’re supposed to learn from that. You know that when you go to a street circuit, such things could cause problems. So you should be prepared for that.”

“And I think if it was his car, he would have spoken differently. But I don’t expect anything less from him,” he added.

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