F1: The Conflict Continues as Verstappen hit with Double Penalty
For Max Verstappen, the 2024 Mexico Grand Prix followed a similar pattern to most races this season. A brilliant Saturday qualifying placed his RB20 in P2, and a strong race start moved him to P1, but poor race pace from the RB20 swiftly saw him lose the lead to polesitter Carlos Sainz and later face a challenge from Lando Norris for second.
Many critics, including Martin Brundle on Sky Sports, described Verstappen’s moves as “dangerous.”
Much like in Austin, Verstappen relied on aggressive defensive manoeuvres to prevent Norris from getting past. In Austin, Verstappen was praised for his sublime race craft, holding his fellow title protagonist back for many laps despite having an inferior package due to older tyres and a slower car. There are two key differences between Austin and Mexico: firstly, in Austin, Norris received a 5-second penalty for overtaking Verstappen off-track, demoting him to P4 and promoting Verstappen to third. Secondly, Norris passed Verstappen in Mexico with significantly less difficulty than in Austin. However, Verstappen subsequently attempted to regain his position in the high-speed left-hander of Turn 7, despite being too far back to make the move stick and make the corner with the line he took. Verstappen went off-track, moving in front of Norris, who also went off-track, and Charles Leclerc took P2. Many critics, including Martin Brundle on Sky Sports, described Verstappen’s moves as “dangerous.” Norris echoed this sentiment on team radio, also labelling the manoeuvres as dangerous and later calling them “not fair, clean racing” in his post-race comments.
When asked post-race, Verstappen refrained from commenting on the incident itself, insisting he is “not going to cry about it”
As a result of this overtake, Verstappen received two 10-second penalties: the first for forcing another driver off-track, the other for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. The penalties were bittersweet for Verstappen; despite losing a potential P4 if penalties weren’t applied, he ostensibly prevented Norris from winning the race, as the McLaren driver climbed to P2 due to a strong hard-tire stint and could have potentially won without the incidents with Verstappen. When asked post-race, Verstappen refrained from commenting on the incident itself, insisting he is “not going to cry about it” and instead noted, “it was a bad day in terms of race pace.”
To conclude, the implications of this incident and the subsequent harsh penalties imposed on Verstappen may influence the rest of the season. It’s unlikely that Verstappen will change his approach, as it mirrors his driving style from his previous title fight three seasons ago against Lewis Hamilton. Ironically, the events in Mexico helped his championship hopes, as a Norris win would’ve dented his championship lead more. The onus seems to be on Norris to ensure he qualifies as high as possible and avoids incidents with Verstappen as, given the defending champion’s sublime qualifying pace this year, he will inevitably be up there in the next four races to challenge Norris for valuable positions.
Comments (22)
Verstappen is dangerous he has no thought for other drivers only himself and will cause a serious accident if not checked
Sport is a business and fixed. Grand prix racing on rwo wheels and four is just a circus of media populism, you could call it politics.
Verstappen is operated he is a bully who can only win when there is a red flag or he runs people of the track to get his own way or the inept stewards change the rules for him.red bull are cheating everyone using a illegal car but the FIA are useless.
Hi all. I’m a Max fan now. Was an Arton Senna fan for many years. In many ways Max has the same driving style as Senna the legend. Some people just don’t like Max. Be it as it may, this man is an example of brilliance behind a f1 car. He is a master on a different level but many current drivers don’t like that and can’t handle him. He is the best of the best in f1. Like Schumacher.
Max is the best driver. Max is nothing like his old man
To all you MAX haters,just because your life is barren of success and meaning don’t be a cry baby and give due where it is earned.
I’ve been watching f1 for fifty years now I’ve seen a lot of champions come and go and for me max is the best f1 driver so far, one day he will go too and another will take his place just like George Russell who is beating Hamilton
Hands down, the critic’s are quick to say max was lucky winning the last gp because of the red flag, if you want to go down that road Lewis Hamilton would have no more than four world championships.
I totally agree some drivers are out of this world and I have been watching F1 for over 40 years and Max verstappen is definitely head and shoulders above the rest!!! With the right car he is unstoppable long May he continue xxxx
I agree with you
And I agree %100 with you..
Simply the BEST…!!!
Martin Brundle again.
What did he achieved as F1 driver?
Max had a super drive and all other critics are praising him.
My god we have witnessed one of the best runs in history so let Mr Brundle just be quiet and look back at his own career.
People are always complaining with regards to Max, as a driver he is good or he would not be in the position he is in, but some of his overtakes are just simply dangerous if these manoeuvres were done to him he would be complaining straight away. He deserves to be punished with severe penalties
Finished with F1, another corrupt sport taking supporters as mugs like football and VAR.
Rules are applied for most but are not applicable for others or are bent to assist for gain or what?
Stop complaining about max
I been watching F1 for almost 70 years and Max stands out as one ,possibly the all time great.
If he was Eenglish sky wouldn’t have a bad word to say about him
My thoughts exactly David!! I’ve often said the same thing myself….but the Brazilian race he was absolutely magnificent one of the best races I’ve seen in a long time ,I use to like Lando but post race he couldn’t even bring himself to even name the guys who chosen to stay out instead of changing their tyres ie Max ,Gasly and Ocon ( who may i say were outstanding) Lando has had a taste of victory and even when winning he barely smiles anymore he was a laughable smiling guy .but sadly no more he reminded me of Jenson Button who said it like it was come winning or not .that’s what I like about Max in the 10 years since he stepped into a F1 car hasn’t changed one bit !!
Verstappen is a bad looser
Red Bull many challenges ahead
FUCK HIM
Problem with verstappen is he can only win by cheating and bending the rules.
If he was to drive as he is supposed to he would be a great driver.
He is getting to be like his father he was no different when he was a driver.
Let’s hope verstappen junior doesn’t go to the next step and beat his wife like his father did.
This is old news, did you not watch the Brazil race
Max is the best F1 driver on the grid. He is perhaps overly aggressive because Red Bull is inferior to at least two other cars on the grid. So the FIA in is going to make it an exciting ($$$) season by punishing Max.
Problem with Verstappen is that he is not English!