Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas, Monza, 2018

Verstappen still believes Bottas clash penalty was wrong

2018 Italian Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen says he still doesn’t agree with his five-second penalty for colliding with Valtteri Bottas during the Italian Grand Prix after watching video of the clash.

The Red Bull driver had five seconds added to his race time after he tangled with Bottas on the approach to the Rettifilio chicane. He accused the stewards of “killing racing” after being told of the decision, which dropped him from third place to fifth.

Verstappen told his official media partner ZiggoSport he hasn’t changed his mind since the race. “I still don’t agree with the decision,” he said.

“Obviously I’ve seen the footage. I just defended. Of course, you try to make the space as small as possible so your turn-in to the corner is not compromised.

“We hit each other and maybe I could’ve given him a few millimetres more space, but he was on the white line. In hindsight it’s easy to say ‘I should’ve done this or that’, but when you arrive at a corner doing 340kph, it makes for a whole different decision making situation than when reviewing it on the video footage.”

The stewards ruled Verstappen was in violation of the International Sporting Code. Although the specific rule he broke was not cited, appendix L, Chapter IV article 2 b) states: “Any driver moving back towards the racing line, having earlier defended his position off-line, should leave at least one car width between his own car and the edge of the track on the approach to the corner.”

Verstappen believes the rules are applied differently depending on which stewards are present at each race.

“It depends on the steward,” he said. “Some will give a penalty, others won’t. I don’t think it has anything to do with the rules. We can talk about the incident for ages, but the decision has been made and I won’t lose any sleep over it.”

“I was pretty angry during the race, so no way he was going to get [past] me,” he added. “At least he knows how the rear of my car looks.”

Verstappen-Bottas collision

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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189 comments on “Verstappen still believes Bottas clash penalty was wrong”

  1. He is so right they are killing F1.

    1. By applying penalties to an illegal move, how is that killing racing?? Verstappen is killing racing with dirty blocking and too many collisions.

      1. Racing incident, period.

        1. @rob and @KellyJo, if you want to see how real racing works, watch Lewis and Kimi. Clean passing, fair racing.
          Max has great talent, but he is also ignorant for thinking he did nothing wrong. He pushes the limits, sometimes it pays off, but a lot of the times it doesn’t. He is just cementing his reputation for dirty racing.

          He will be the next driver to take someone out to win a World Championship.

          1. You are depicting Lewis not Max. Max is the greatest talent in f1 at the moment and I would like to see him with Sebastian in Ferrari next year.

    2. It is Verstappen that is killing racing by not allowing anyone to pass his highness.
      What he did to Kimi and what he does generally when someone try to pass him is almost psychotic.

      “I was pretty angry during the race, so no way he was going to get [past] me,” he added. “At least he knows how the rear of my car looks.”

      In short he still hate Bottas but Bottas did nothing wrong.

      1. There’s no “hate” there. Only a very determined racer as it should.
        Let them race.

        1. “At least he knows how the rear of my car looks.”

          This is rage transferred into hate . “At least HE(Bottas) knows…”
          did Bottas made anything bad to him to deserve that?

          “Let them race.”

          You don’t want they race, you want that he can push another car out of the track and get away with it.

          1. Unfortunately Max is trying to develop a bullying, intimidating image so that few will attempt to pass him or they’ll be crashed into or pushed off the track. Now he’s trying to intimidate the stewards. Drivers and stewards need to push back even harder. As Max incurs more and more penalties for overly aggressive driving maybe he’ll finally learn how to race properly. If not he’s in for a very frustrated career.

          2. @greenflag I agree.

            Max has talent. I enjoy watching him race, and think he could be up there with the best F1 drivers of all time by the end of his career.

            However, he needs to get himself under control. This weekend, he drove into a car which was right on the edge of the track… Fair enough, I can accept that he misjudged it. What I can’t accept is that he doesn’t believe he has done anything wrong!

            The 5 second penalty was just about fair, no matter the driver involved. Maybe a little on the harsh side for most drivers, but Max’s attitude and history demands harsher treatment. The penalty points would, IMHO, be over the top for most drivers but, again, not for Max: He needs to learn, and a slap on the wrist won’t cut it any more.

            I was just about ready to stop HasVerstappenCrashedToday.com and put up a note saying he had improved to the point where the site was no longer fair. However, his behaviour both during the race and, with this comment, after has led me to revise that opinion.

          3. Aha drmouse. So each driver should be treated different for the same incident. Who needs an extra lesson (in your oppinion) should be given more penalties…..mm I thought this was a racing game. So HRH Hamilton should got away with this same incident?

          4. I agree with Pul, penalties need to be equal in race.
            If the driver continues to misbehave then extra penalties might be warranted but should be dealt not by the race comissaires but by the FIA, the points in driver license is a tool to handle repetition of offenses.
            The only exception for this is if a driver continuously misbehave in a race, then even a black flag might be called.

        2. I agree let them race

          But someone needs to tell Max, who basically has a ‘let them crash’, unless it’s a driver he respects, i.e. Hamilton, Ricardo etc

  2. I read it like admitting he was wrong but saying he couldn’t admit it :)

    1. yeah, I thought so too. he needs to think before opening his mouth. also, once he knew of the penalty he should have let bottas go and tried to maintain the gap to vettel. what he actually did was foolish and will make the team as a whole think less of him.

      1. Indeed. He was wrong in squeezing bottas that much and he was wrong to then childishly hold his position to prove a point when he would have been better letting Bottas past and making sure he finished 5 secs ahead of Vettel.

        1. Yeah, sure. And hoe would hè have done that, given that VET was cruising on fresher super softs? Hè was lapping almost a second faster than VER.
          Max already knew hè would be put back to 5th, so hè just Made a point of finishing 3rd

        2. Disagree, if I were verstappen I’d have done the same as he did and I’m a few years older than him, in fact my goal would in that case have been to let bottas lose place against vettel if it were possible.

          I admire verstappen for not losing the place on track against a faster mercedes, if the penalty was deserved, it wasn’t by much.

  3. Someone show him this picture and tell him to shut up.

    1. @john-h Absolutely. This has finally made up my mind on Verstappen, he’s far too arrogant. He is killing racing by not giving racing room, moving in the braking area and having a go at the officials for following the rules.

    2. Strange… this picture is proof VER is right.
      There was room for Bottas.. driving on the line is still within the track. So VER did according to the rules what was needed: keep one cars width .
      Only after Bottas hit VER he left the track.

      It seems a lot of people bottled up frustrations for several excellent races and spill it now.
      But even if the penalty would have been correct.. it’s only a simple defensive move at an extremely slow speed. Do not make storys of it.

      1. The rule is do not move in the braking zone…..simple.He moved and squeezed bottas therefore a penalty.

      2. Verstappen in this very article: “…but when you arrive at a corner doing 340kph…”

        The picture is only a screenshot.

        1. that corner the speed is approx 80Km/h
          for F1 that’s sloooowwwwww

          1. “Arrive at a corner”. Not at the apex. He means braking from that speed.

        2. @maichael

          The picture is only a screenshot.

          I’m being very pedantic here but to be clear it is a photograph, not a screenshot from the race footage.

          1. Since there is probably an FIA copyright in the difference it is not simply pedantic to point this out. You are right to do so Keith.

          2. there is probably an FIA copyright

            I’m being very, very pedantic here but to be clear FOM, not the FIA, owns copyright on F1 broadcast footage.

            That’ll teach you for encouraging me :-)

      3. Completely wrong @erikje

      4. Miroslav Hržica
        4th September 2018, 11:23

        You are right,
        he sould have had only most right part of his rigjt tire on white line, rest of car sould have been on grass – acording to rules that woud be on track.

        IMHO driver can push other driver to the point where all parts of car are on track, Botas was pushed to the edge of track and then contact hapened.

        Driver can chose if he leave track with two wheel but canno’t push other driver of the track

      5. If they touch while Bottas is on the white line it means theres a bit less than a car width. I got no hard feelings about this but I’m not sure about what you are trying to demonstrate. Also he got penalized because he was told to keep it clean. It was almost clean. Almost.

      6. @erikje As has been said by @spoutnik further down, if they touch and Bottas is on the white line then there is less than a car’s width. Also from the picture you can see Verstappen’s tyre inside Bottas’ rear tyre. So that shows there is less than a car’s width. End of story.

        1. The green stuff is part of the track. The track limits here do not end at the white line. So there is more then a cars width between ver and the end of the track.

          1. No it isn’t part of the track! If it was then why bother having a white line at all?

          2. No it’s not! Read the rules!

      7. The rules regard the cars width as within the track limits Otherwise you could be all but 2ft away from the line and still consider it a cars width…. That is moronic. Verstappen is wrong… very wrong and he should simply accept that an move along.

      8. You have to leave a car’s width on the track, i.e. within the white lines. What exactly is so difficult to understand erkije? Sometimes I am completely baffled. You can clearly see Bottas is on the edge of the line, with Verstappen’s wheels interlocked. Words fail me.

        1. The strict rules are the car is inside the track when all 4 wheels are inside the lines, therefore Verstappen did not push Bottas of track, Bottas still has abourt 20 cm left…

          It’s like tennis…the ball in only out when the ball is 100% outside on the line, when the ball hits the line it’s still in.

          Verstappen feels Bottas still hade room…though it was tight ofcourse, if we take the rules litterly, Bottas had room…. the ball was in

        2. VER fans see what they want to see. It’s completely obvious to everyone else (or should be) but if it’s then how about moving in the braking zone? Or will they deny that too.
          He’s a petulant little boy who needs to grow up fast! He’s embarrassing himself

          1. About moving in the braking zone…. that is allowed, the driver may go back to the racing line and is free to choose his line going into the corner. Moving under braking is not why Verstappen got a penalty.
            People should try and unerstand that rule cause it has been up for debater so many time and rarely ever has been penalized.

            The swearing and labeling Verstappen as petulant, arrogant, or immature are really getting irritating, like that will influence the FIA or racing in general. F1 is about racing, not a personality contest.
            I think it’s very very childisch to use such language… Lewis and Vettel take a lot of that as well… the guys who stick out.

        3. @john-h https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qNrj3PJZ3IQ
          Words fail to describe the inconsistency of race control

  4. Verstappen has not done anything wrong.
    It is just that Bottas is from Merc and Verstappen is from Red Bull.
    Merc is forbidden to be approached very close and if anyone does it, he will become next Vettel unfortunately.

    1. You’re right, he do absolutely nothing wrong….as long as we ignore him hitting another car 🙄

      1. Bottas was hitting Max

        1. Like the target is hitting the bullet, everything is a question of reference point.

          1. not quite.. the bullet ( BOT) hit VER who was in front.

          2. https://youtu.be/9d1ppvK9npY?t=3m32s
            if you watch the footage, Bottas moves alongside Verstappen on the straight (albeit slightly behind at this point). Then, it looks like Verstappen is the one driving into Bottas (who actually tries to avoid Verstappen by steering away from him). So I find it hard to understand how one can argue that Bottas was the one that hit Verstappen.

          3. Spot on @dbdb. Bottas even moves as far left as he can to give Max more room!

        2. OMG, are you serious?

        3. Bottas was hitting Max

          What the actual *censored*?!?!

          Bottas is alongside Max, right at the edge of the track and, if you look at the photo above, driving further off the track at the time of impact. He could literally have done nothing more to avoid a collision.

          Max, on the other hand, is less than a car’s width from the edge of the track (as evidenced by the fact that Bottas is on the edge of the track and Max’s wheels are inside his) and driving further toward the edge of the track. I.e. He is driving INTO Bottas.

          Saying Bottas drove into Max is like saying the lamp post hit me.

    2. Other than driving an excessively wide line that no one else needed for that chicane, after being explicitly warned by the FIA that he was being a jerk at turn 1… And swearing at the stewards, and driving in such a way that he cost his team 2 points… and making the F2 guys look professional by comparison….

      No, Max did nothing wrong.

    3. So Vertappen moves again in braking zone and it is Bottas fault.

      1. Verstappen was moving into the corner…when will fans learn….

        The whole moving under braking has been up for discussion so many times… the braking zone end when the corner begins and a driver is allowed to choose his racingline going into the corner.

        1. So a driver can move anywhere he wants including over another car at his side. Amazing logic there…

        2. the braking zone end when the corner begins and a driver is allowed to choose his racingline going into the corner

          So, if another car is there, they should magically disappear? 2 objects cannot occupy the same space. You are suggesting that Max deliberately drove into another car because he chose to take that line. If that were the case, he got off easy with only a 5 second penalty!

  5. He’d not the sharpest tool in the shed, is Max. It continues to astound that Red Bull think he is worth putting all their resources into him.

    1. RBR are going to be even in more hot water from next year when they put Gasly in 2nd car who seems to have same personality traits as Crastappen.

      1. Gasly? Same traits as Verstappen? Enough internet for today.

        1. Both are arrogant hotheads both on and off track not accepting their mistakes.

    2. Weird comment.
      Even though was was wrong in this case (didn’t leave a car width) he’s at least a real racer (‘if you go for closing a gap you are no longer a racing driver’s).
      And the agitated Verstappen at least gave us some extra laps of great racing where a faster car couldn’t find a space around a faster racer.

      1. That quote is one of the most nonesense things which “fans” say to try justify poor driving @coldfly

        The whole point is that drivers should go for a gap that is there. It doesn’t cover stupidity for going into gaps which weren’t there or forcing others off track.

        In this case, the “faster racer” was punished for dangerous driving so had already lost the position to the car behind, oh and the car behind that one too. But I guess that’s what the best races do right ?

        1. Cord, fans defend their hero driver, but this was black and white verstappens fault, you could see verstappens intention from when he cut the chicane on purpose, he was in a ‘not good racer’ frame of mind, he was going to deny bottas at all cost. Bottas was smart after the collision not trying to pass, he knew verstappen would do another dirty move, and knew he was infront anyway cos of verstappens penalty.

        2. It’s not a quote @Tom but rather a sarcastic adjusted version (and I even missed the ‘don’t’).
          Thanks for taking the bait anyway :P

          1. Fishing season officially started :)

        3. A poor driver.. Lol
          Bot was the most part of the race behind a much slower rb.
          Ham or vet would have passed Ver laps before.
          The poor driving was by “butler Bottas” 😎

          1. Do you really think Max would have failed to try to run Vet or Ham off the track? Or just that they are so good he would have missed them.

      2. You mangled the quote, but since it was being used to justify one of the most egregious moves in F1 history, it’s still pretty weak if that’s all you’ve got to justify the fact that Verstappen isn’t capable of handling the first chicane at Monza in a professional manner.

        And then there’s “I know I’m losing time to Vettel, but I don’t care” (because I’m a spoiled brat who’s throwing a tantrum).

        1. It wasn’t a quote, but a fishing expedition (see above) ;)

          1. 3 useless posts then.

      3. After the penalty Bottas had no reason to attempt to pass or attempt to pass Ver who at that point was merely a place holder. And ver/rbr had no worry since no one is close to him/them in the championship. The only person that needed max to move was Hamilton in the hopes he’d keep the delta to vettel.

    3. They will come to regret it…

  6. If he had left 2 inches more space he’d be right. But he didn’t, so he isn’t.

    1. That needs to be his takeaway from the incident. Technically he may be correct, he left exactly a car width (including the width of the white stripe as track). So applause for being so precise at high speed. But he’s counting on two things: either the other driver goes right to the edge to avoid the slightest contact, and we’re talking those 2 inches or less, or the stewards feel favourable towards him. He’s relying on others to decide his fate, basically. Give a few inches and he’s decided it for himself.

      He reminds me of early Hamilton in expecting the same precision as himself from other drivers and 100% understanding from stewards. Compromise just a bit more from perfection and he’ll get better results.

      1. This comment sums it up precisely. The difference between Verstappen pre-Canada and post-Canada is mostly down to things going his way again (for example Austria would have ended badly if he was 2 inches further behind). Until he realises that perfection cannot be assumed, these situations will happen.

  7. This guy is insane. Almost everybody is saying he’s wrong and even he himself in half of his interview and yet in the end he concludes he’s right. If I was a competitor alongside him, I’d feel terribly angry. How do you even attempt an overtake on someone they wants to win so badly they’re prepared to crash into you? Motorsport is already dangerous without clowns who don’t respect other drivers or rules. Did anyone ask him about Bottas’ previous overtaking attempt? An honest driver would admit to losing the corner, after he cuts it with Bottas directly behind him. Instead Redbull got a free pass like everyone is allowed to cut a corner as a defense maneuver once.

    1. Just show he still hasn’t learned anything.
      With this mentality he will never become WC.

      1. Who really cares if he becomes WC ? I just don’t like watching races with this rubbish in them, to me it just isn’t entertaining sport – it has all the attractiveness as pro wrestling… boo hiss.

    2. “How do you even attempt an overtake on someone they wants to win so badly they’re prepared to crash into you?” Maybe you should ask drivers who drove against Senna and Shumacher. that They had that same mentality, ‘I’m gonna go over here, and it’s up to you to avoid a collision’.

      Him cutting the the cicane was him avoiding contact with bottas, had he not done that Bottas would have hit him.

      Him not admitting is just his age showing, he is still younger then most driver were at their F1 debut. It’ll come with time. We all did that at 20 years of age when someone told you you were wrong.

      1. “Him cutting the the cicane was him avoiding contact with bottas, had he not done that Bottas would have hit him. ”

        Well done Verstappen, you proved your maturity once again with dumb comment like that… both locked up, and Vers more so due to carrying way too much speed to not let Bot pass, to a level that just he would never make the corner! He should have been penalized there! His team asked him to be cleaner and tidy! What he did? He swore on the radio, thanx to Vettel swearing and playing bumper cars and getting slap on the wrist whilst “kids” watching… Hence kids like Vers learn and take bad things from “pro” drivers… no surprise…

        1. He should have been penalized there!

          reading your comments i guess he should be penalized for taking part in the race.
          That’s the problem with social media. A lot of commentators that do have the faintest idea what racing is.. sigh..

    3. At least he isn’t President.

      1. Hahahaha

  8. What a shame and immaturity of Verstappen. I don’t know if F1 will survive as a “sport” in the future, but, thanks to drivers like Verstappen “sportsmanship” definitely will not make it. Unfortunately we live in a world that those kind of characters get it all.

    1. I do not agree. I think F1 will survive as a sport -thanks- to drivers like Verstappen because they provide entertainment and do not take everything for granted. This has nothing to do with sportsmanship.

      F1 is not kindergarten. All drivers should be allowed to race as hard as possible. If they break the rules, like Verstappen, they should receive some penalty (like Verstappen). But that should be all. Driver made a mistake, got a penalty, nobody got hurt, move on. It will happen again. And I really do hope Verstappen never changes his driving style.

      1. “This has nothing to do with sportsmanship.”
        I suppose it must depend how you define ‘sportsmanship’…

        “Driver made a mistake, got a penalty, nobody got hurt, move on. It will happen again.”
        Says it all, really…

  9. Verstappen still believes Bottas clash penalty was wrong and everyone else still believes he’s an entitled idiot.

    1. Nop, thats just you

      1. Yes PMR that is you and Vers… everyone else thinks like @andrewf1

        as long as “pro” drivers like Vettel teach bad behaviour on the track, “kids” like Verstappen will cherish!

        1. everyone else thinks like

          nope.. wrong again ;)

        2. Leave me out of that. I just saw somebody moving a few cm to wide and another not moving a few cm wider. Apparently a lot like to read more into it, that’s all.

  10. I still feel like Bottas had more space on his left to go. But Bottas had no business being there in the 1st place. Where was he going if max had give him 5 cm more? Straight cutting the chicane?

    But it’s yesterday’s news, let’s go to Singapore

    1. “But Bottas had no business being there in the 1st place. ”
      Inane or what…? He’s a racing driver. That’s his business…!

      1. What kind of dog breed is a racing driver? He looks like Lewis’s pet to me.

        1. Patrick – still inane my friend…

      2. He’s assistant racing driver..

    2. I still feel like Bottas had more space on his left to go.

      Agreed, he could’ve used the green strip of astroturf and would’ve avoided a collision but obviously that’s beyond the edge of the track and Verstappen got a fair penalty.

      1. Eeh, no. In fact, the green part is also part of the track and in fact used as such by every driver all weekend. If it wasn’t part of the track, all 20 drivers would have had penalty’s.
        In the most famous corner on the track, the green part is used by every single driver over all 53 laps, so cut the crap about the green strip not being part of the track!

      2. Braking into astroturf…?

        1. During quali they all used that spot to brake as you see the tyre marks. (green is also asfalt not astrotuf)

  11. I think the penalty was unnecessary, maybe justified because of Max’s reaction which spiced up a bit the radio messages.

    They touch with the back wheels, it is a racing incedent in my opinion.

    I thought that the FIA implemented the new rules to let these guys sort it out on track, instead they are abusing of the 5s penalty. If they can’t even race each other.

    1. If you don’t penalise verstappen for this blatant mistake, then what’s the point of applying any penalties to any driver ever? That is what your logic comes across. He is lucky he got away with a 5 second penalty instead of a stop go or drive through(that is what I was expecting), also lucky it wasn’t a track lucky Monaco with a wall that bottas could ha e hit. Also lucky he didn’t end up with broken suspension or a puncture.

  12. He’s wrong and it was completely unnecessary. Bottas was never going to overtake from where he was.

    1. So it’s bottas fault now? Rofl. Bottas could have had a great run into next chicane being so close, so bottas could have overtaken him as a direct result of his straight braking, but verstappen chose to ignore that a car is beside him and drove into bottas line

  13. It’s difficult to see how Max can possibly be so stupid. He is not looking at the long game, upsetting the stewards by defending the indefensible is to invite decisions like this one from 2013, ironically also involving Bottas in essentially the same situation.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2G2eA-QmVg

    Difference in this case was that Hamilton left, relatively speaking, loads of room for Bottas, but still got punished by the stewards.

    Max is heading in the same direction.

    1. @frasier Why would the stewards be upset? Do you think they expect all drivers to happily agree with their every ruling? Their every penalty? Do you think they are following up on Max’s opinion once the dust has settled, and are now going to be harder on him because he still insists he shouldn’t have been penalized? And they’ll now harbour resentment toward Max for the future? How is he inviting penalties like LH got in 2013? Frankly I can see exactly why LH got a more harsh time penalty, that being a drive-through, than MV got at Monza. VB simply held is line while LH, seemingly assuming VB would simply move over for him, drove right into him. At least on Sunday VB was more in the mix, was being squeezed out and was moving out, but was not backing off either. This was a penalty by an inch. LH was just being ridiculous in Brazil 2013. And guess what…he lived to win several more Championships. If Max is going in the same direction, that’s great.

      1. @robbie ROFL, you really don’t like Lewis do you? 2 things.

        1) It’s the white lines that dictate the edge of the track, check those out in the 2013 example I gave, and the picture at the head of this article, huge difference. Racing room, that’s what the regulations are seeking, Lewis was ahead in 2013 and entitled to hold his line.

        2) You’re not allowed to change your line in the braking zone, which Max did unquestionably on Sunday

        Lewis was penalised time and again because he answered back and didn’t give the stewards enough respect as judges of fact, Max is going the same way.

        1. @frasier Not sure what you’re on about but racing line or white line or not, LH got a bigger penalty in 2013 than VB got on Sunday. Your last sentence…don’t buy it for a second.

        2. Ok i don’t care but saying the white line defines end of track is wrong. That is ONLY true when there isn’t asfalt on the otherside of the white line. So the track ends when asfalt stops that they put some stupid line in the rulebook is wrong. Only because Tike couldn’t design circuits they made that rule up. What they should do is remove that white line rule and redesign the tracks with that problem. (Monza could use less asfalt and more grass)

          Ask any (older) driver where the tracks ends.

          1. saying the white line defines end of track is wrong

            Actually, that’s exactly what the rules say: The track is up to the white line. Beyond that is off the track. AFAIK, that’s what the rules have always said.

            In lower categories of racing, many circuits are on old airfields. The track is painted on in white lines. If the white line didn’t define the track, drivers could just cut all the chicanes.

            It’s not about Tilke, or grass, or gravel, it’s about the rules. They are what defines the sport.

            Maybe they could discourage exceeding track limits through use of more grass and gravel (although they’d lose other forms of motorsport in doing so), but they track limits would still be defined by the white lines.

  14. This penalty will give Vettel the championship. Hamilton will be less than 2 points away and all this is due to VER.

    1. you totally lost me there..

      1. Without the penalty VER would have been 3rd, BOT 4th and VET 5th, instead of 4th, a difference of 2 points.

        1. This penalty will give Vettel the championship

          .. 2 points less loss.
          But how about “give vettel the championship”?

          1. He clearly predicts that circumstances will make it so that these 2 points will be the margin vettel will have on him in the end.

            Remember in 2007? Hamilton could have lost the title for many reasons, but one of them was that in fuji he probably braked too much causing vettel and webber to hit each other and retire, allowing raikkonen to get 2nd in that race, without which hamilton would’ve been champion.

          2. Personally I think the title is lost for vettel with even reliability, too many mistakes which cause him to lose 2x the points he gains on hamilton with a victory, and he won’t win every race, so.

    2. I also thought Max was trying to help Ferrari and shaft Mercedes by helping Seb to a higher finish by backing himself into below 5s range of the trailing Ferrari. In the end, it really won’t impact his own or RB’s standing in the championships. Red mist.

  15. Track rules, same as tyres etc are all part of F1, the best drivers know how to make best use of all of these. Look at Vettel and VSC in Australia this year.

    1. What’s that got to do with this?

  16. Same old Verstappen, still arrogant, still immature, still crashing.

    1. It’s a racer pur sang..
      If he did what HAM did with VET i know the comments here.. just let them race..

      1. If he did what HAM did with VET

        You mean what VET did with HAM? Where Vettel crashed into Hamilton?

        1. Indeed, at that corner where Lewis was ahead of Sebastian but still left him plenty of room?

          1. That’s right, the collision that happened a few corners after LH hit SV’s rear right tire with his front left tire.

          2. Oh you mean the collision that SV caused by overeagerly going for his teammate, then having to fall back @robbie? (yeah, in both cases …).

  17. Yes, he is right; 5 sec penalty is indeed wrong! It should have been a 10 sec or a drive through penalty. Moving under braking and not leaving a car’s width for the opposition deserve more stringent sanction that what he has got. Such a disillusioned kid. Such arrogant attitude is killing his promising career.

    1. Wake that rules is removed!

  18. Oh, come on, just admit being in the wrong already. Just like in Monaco in 2015 when I found his attempt to blame Grosjean in the aftermath of that race for the rear-end collision at St. Devote even though it was 100% his error very annoying and rather disrespectful as well. I can understand attempting not to take responsibility for one’s action(s) if something isn’t easy to judge from the cockpit POV, but when it’s about something that should indeed be easy to judge even from that POV already, like in these two instances, as well as, in the case of Sainz-Stroll crash in Bahrain last season, or with the ’16 Austrian GP Hamilton-Rosberg collision. I just don’t understand how hard it can at times be for people in general to take responsibility for their actions.

  19. Funny how these translations completely change Verstappen’s image. If you speak Dutch and watch the show, you would actually see that he’s down to earth, humorous and quite likeable.

      1. Walter Bravenboer
        4th September 2018, 13:24

        Yes, perhaps that is a part of the quite disturbing amount of dislike of Max. He is confident and passionate about racing, the collission with Bottas is already forgotten, so move on.
        He really has a very down-to-earth attitude, a dry wit and a pretty positive attitude. There is a reason he is immensely popular in Holland. He makes racing fun again.

        1. I don’t speak Dutch, but I love Max. I agree that, most of the time, he makes watching racing more fun.

          However, unless something was really lost in translation and he accepted fault for the crash, he has a lot of growing up to do. Doing so will make him a better racer, and he doesn’t need to lose the “fun” to do it.

          All he needed to say was, “Yeah, sorry, I misjudged that. I’ll try to do better in future.” This would’ve shown a bit of maturity. But going on about stewards “killing racing” to deflect criticism for a mistake like this is just silly, as is refusing to accept blame for what was obviously his mistake.

  20. I think verstappen is picking this up from horner. If you ask horner he will always defend their red bull drivers even if it is blatantly wrong and obvious. In some ways it is a good thing because from driver’s perspective it helps if your team boss is always on your side regardless of what happens. And as a team boss it is your job. It is only matter of judgment how far you take it. F1 stewards (especially charlie) tend not to be the sharpest of people and often times the arguing and dubious reasoning tends to change results or have effect in future. The worst thing a driver can do is admit he made a mistake. It can only make the penalty harsher. Or in other cases confirm it.

    Inside his head I’m sure verstappen knows exactly he made a mistake. At least after seeing the video. I’m sure horner knows it too. After all verstappen and red bull use similar whiny tactics when verstappen passed kimi by going off the track cutting the track in the american gp some moons ago. At the time verstappen appeared to be adamant he had done nothing wrong. He complained because there was a chance he could make a steward change his mind or whatever. But after some time passed verstappen admitted he knew he was wrong all along. Sadly I can’t find the article about it.

    But because the stewards are what they are verstappen and horner (or any driver, like vettel when he did his baku thing) lose absolutely nothing by continuing to complain or lie about it. The complaining won’t change anything about this penalty but it surely puts more pressure on the stewards the next time a steward needs to penalize verstappen or a red bull driver. They know they are going to go against this pr machine and as such won’t be doing it too easily. If it means couple more not-guilty decisions over time then be it.

    1. Horner’s politics are definitely to always defend max, his dirtier under braking move at Baku, read Horner’s comments there. I think ricciardo left red bull not because of verstappen, but because of red bulls overly favourite position to verstappen.

  21. Verstappen should go to racing school…
    He changed his position when defending in the braking zone. Its not the first time. The difference between good and great drivers is the ability to defend and or pass with out causing collisions or ruining oponents races intentionally by playing dojem cars…

    1. That rule does not exist anymore…the rule is “leave a cars width”.

      1. So are the drivers allowed to move once under braking, twice, or as many times as they like?

  22. Finally we see people battling on track. But the stewards don’t want this. F1 is pathetic. Look at F2, they will not give a penalty for this battling, like it should be.

    1. Swerving into other drivers isn’t exactly fair battling.

  23. ah, good ole max

  24. He’s hardly going to admit to his official media outlet he was wrong was he?

    He was in the wrong though, it’s incredibly clear.

  25. There is a difference between being unpassable and making it difficult to pass. When a car is faster and has DRS, they will eventually pass you because of the restriction to move twice while defending. We’ve seen it happen to almost every driver out there. Time and again we have seen Verstappen make more than 1 move and pushing drivers out.

    He was so upset after the penalty that he even admits that there was no way Bottas would have passed even if his car was 30 seconds quicker. He has zero appreciation for being able to drive for a team like Red Bull. He should take a look at what’s happening to Esteban Ocon.

  26. An obnoxious and petulant adolescent, yet to grow up.

  27. Seriously are such drivers going to replace hamilton, alonso , raikkonen and ….?
    The sports gonna die in the near future…

  28. I love the energy and drive Max brings to the race, he is going to try some tough passes. On the other side of the coin is the fact he wants no one to pass him and is the king of double moves (albeit sometime slight) to keep people behind him.

    Sometimes the double moves work and sometimes they don’t (Baku, Italy)

    There is no need to change.

  29. Cant believe so many people lash out no matter what.
    We want racing and not cars following eachother lap after lap without anything.
    People complain about how drs is artificial and make overtaking to easy, but when Max makes it harder or even impossible, people still lash out. Get some ffing sense and accept Hard racing and drivers crossing the line sometimes.

    1. You know Kimi and Hamilton raced perfectly fine in Monza , they even passed each other.
      With Max that would have been a crash somewhere.

    2. I agree

  30. I’ve said it elsewhere but it’s pretty clear after 74 race starts.

    With 2019 not looking like a favorable year for RBR, Max will be past the experience window in which drivers who only got one WDC got it. And compared to multiple champions, he hasn’t shown neither the wit nor the grit.

    1. Well that might be true (or not) but Max is still only 20. Not much drivers were in F1 at that age.

    2. Mansell won his only title at the end of his career, in 1992, just as an example, he was racing since 1980 I believe.

  31. Palmer was spot on when he called Verstappen’s antics juvenile. He even gave up trying to beat Vettel to prove he was right.

    I don’t agree with what he said about Bottas being hesitant as to the reason he couldn’t get past. Verstappen has spawned a change in racing culture where last minute moves and divebombs are ok. Look at Ricciardo in Azerbaijan: he had over 1km to slipstream Verstappen but Verstappen saw his only option was to block and crash out rather than let his teammate through.

    He’s fast but juvenile.

    1. Your absolutely right. We want more racers the like of Palmer…
      👹

  32. He can see on the footage Bottas is on the white line, he obviously knows he got him, but he doesn’t think he did anything wrong?

    Amazing driver, but pig headed and entitled beyond belief.

  33. Verstappen would do well at stock car! He has no manners..

  34. Either this kid will end up with multiple world titles (if not at least one), or he’ll end up like Juan Pablo Montoya: lots of raw speed and talent, but ultimately held back by his cockiness and lack of application.

    Max’s brashness and arrogance is amusing. I understand that the best racing drivers (athletes) in the world tend to be arrogant/entitled, but there’s also such a thing as taking it too far.

    From the looks of it, it’s as if all the media and Red Bull hype went into his head… much to learn, he has.

    1. My sentiments exactly re: Montoya. For me, VERS is more on this path than the multiple champions people keep mentioning him alongside.

      1. Yes, I like verstappen but I can’t help but notice his similarities with montoya, for one immediately challenging the current top drivers as soon as he came into the scene.

    2. I don’t understand how people call Max arrogant. He’s very down to earth imho. He’s always saying it as it is (in his opinion of course) and he moves one to the next one.

      I rather have this than the annoying fake Lewis talks.

  35. Max: they aren’t going to stop handing out penalties to you just because you keep complaining about them. That’s not the way it works.

    1. He wasn’t complaining in the item this article is referring to

  36. Lot of comments on this article over a few cm’s. Thats all it was. No illegal moves just, the one guy not giving a few cm more and the other not going wider just a few cm. But everyone debating here and making more off it are in ‘good’ company with the stewarts. Beats me why stewarts are proactive btw but that’s another thing

  37. A few cm can be life or death. Verstappen has not the right mind to drive in a dangerous sport.

    1. Well, another way if looking at it is that the level of the other drivers need to go up a notch. This was clearly avoidable had Bottas been a more skilled driver

      1. It was avoidable if Max was a more skilled driver, as was the penalty ;)

      2. That is the level of honesty i expect from their entourage, he runs into Bottas and it is Bottas that is at fault.

        Penalty was not enough. And he should have given the position to Bottas regardless.

      3. Part of a driver’s skill is knowing and racing by the rules book.

  38. For years and years, all of the F1 world complained that the F1-drivers of today, don’t have any caracter or personality, don’t take any risks and are boring.
    Now we have Max Verstappen. He has caracter and personaltity, he takes risks (not always with good results) and for sure he is not boring (even if you don’t like him or what he says)
    Let’s face it. Modern Formula 1 gets more and more boring. (I know, because I watch F1 for more than 30 years) We should be very grateful that we have a driver like Max Verstappen. And sure, he makes mistakes and he doesn’t always says the smartest things. But at least, something is happening.

  39. In high performance driving school, they teach that if you drop a wheel or two onto a surface with less grip, do not brake hard until you get back on the racing surface. That’s because both sides brake the same, but the differential in tire grip causes the car to spin. Putting Bottas on the line and beyond was going to cause him not to be able to brake for the corner, and when he did brake to stop from crashing, he would have spun into Verstappen. This is why the rule exists.

    The braking force down into Rettifilio is immense and that green astroturf doesn’t go all the way into the runoff area. Just another inch or two over, they both would have ended their races there. Besides, Verstappen’s wheels were interlocked with Bottas even though the latter was already on the white line. That is a step too far and was rightly penalized.

  40. I like Verstappen in so many ways, but if he is not carefull he will either be involved in or instigate a massive accident. He hasn’t had one yet, but if he keeps pulling tricks like he did in Monza, the biter will get bitten!

  41. Though there may be some flexibility by the stewards regarding this situation, the rule is clear: there was less than a car’s width to the limit of the track.

    In hindsight, a mature driver should consider avoiding the odds of a penalty there.

    What I find truly unforgivable is to sulk and fight an already lost position instead of defending his position from Vettel.

    In his fourth season there’s no excuse for such immaturity (and for the lost points, his and his team’s).

    Bottas was the smart one here.

  42. By letting others pass without a fight will never make you a champion. In my opinion: Bottas tried to pass Ves but he was just to late in his attempt. So it came to a close call, no cars were damaged and nobody was hurt. This day however to fight like this was found against the rules. I can live with the decision, up to the next race.

  43. Verstappen needs to grow up quickly, he caused an unnecessary collision and then spat his dummy out which cost his team even more points.

    There are other good young talents out there Max, don’t ruin your career at such an early stage.

  44. You know you are no longer a boy and became a man when you are mature enough to own to your mistakes. Max, obviously, has not made the transition yet.

    If, after reviewing the footage from the TV, he STILL does not admit he was at fault with his move, BASED ON FIA RULES, he is a serious danger; to himself and the other 19 racers sharing the track with him. I love the fact he is a true racer, not willing to concede defeat. But, when you try to reason against the evidence that you made a mistake, you are just being stupid. Grow up or you are going to kill someone in the process.

    Singapore does not have much escape room. Think!

  45. I agree he shouldn’t have got a 5 second penalty…it should have been 13 seconds.
    Eye and for an eye and all that. If he is too dumb to accept that his driving is dangerous, and thats what the rules are for, then he shouldn’t be there, cos one day, it won’t just be a tyre rub, it’ll be two cars barrel rolling at 340kmh.
    His excuse that your thinking at 340kmh is different is rubbish, his thinking is the same at 34kmh as it is at 340kmh.

  46. YellowSubmarine
    5th September 2018, 1:57

    Sounds like the old Verstappen is coming back…the crash-prone, foul-mouthed kid who somehow got away with breaking pretty much every F1 rule on defending against an overtake is coming back as RBR’s undisputed number 1 driver.
    Thank heavens the F1 gods have ensured he will at most be at the head of the midfield on the track…it’s terrifying to imagine Verstappen in a car as fast as the Ferrari or the Merc, fighting for the WDC against another driver in a similarly fast car. There’d be carnage – as in, real carnage.

  47. Verstappen thinks he is playing a video game. Silly boy. But then…vthays what happens when you place immature boys in a mans sport. F1 is not only about outright speed but about surgical precision,finesse and spacial awareness.so im begging the question…while he may hav the speed does he possess the other?

    1. Or do the others lack it…? I mean if Bottas moves over a further 3cm, this would be a brilliant race moment from the both of them

      1. They were doing fine until Max moved into him. No way Valtteri could react to that in the braking zone.

  48. He can drive well but chooses not to. he know’s full well where he is positioning the car. It IS intentional!

  49. He’s a talented driver but he’s also a petulant teenager. I thought I saw a more mature Max in the past few races but I was wrong. I’m guessing those who defend him are also petulant teenagers, if not in years then in spirit!

    1. Really, over a few cm? Your standards are high. What drivers pass your test?

  50. Hardly like Max’ first time driving across the track in an attempt to block a clearly faster car.

    He’d also been warned earlier in the race, but clearly did not care.

    Check minute 4:07 of this video below for more Max driving people off the road shennanigans

    https://youtu.be/_HkmYvKVx58?t=248

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