Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Suzuka, 2018

Verstappen, Alonso and Stroll given penalty points for incidents

2018 Japanese Grand Prix

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Three drivers have been given penalty points for incidents during the Japanese Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen was given a single penalty point for his collision with Kimi Raikkonen early in the race. The stewards ruled he “cut the chicane and rejoined track on the racing line in turn 17 and in the process collided with car 7 [Raikkonen]”.

The Red Bull driver now has a total of eight penalty points for the current 12-month period, leaving him four away from a potential one-race ban. He was also given a five-second penalty in the race for the incident.

Lance Stroll received two penalty points, and moves onto a total of six, after being held responsible for causing a collision with Fernando Alonso at the chicane.

The McLaren driver subsequently cut the chicane, for which he was given a one-point penalty. The stewards noted that “although car 14 [Alonso] was forced off the track, car 14 thereafter cut the chicane and rejoined the track thereby gaining a significant advantage.” Alonso now has three points on his licence.

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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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43 comments on “Verstappen, Alonso and Stroll given penalty points for incidents”

  1. So, maybe Verstappen will in the end have to feel a bit of a penalty there, that would be good, because those 5-sec penalties do not seem to do much in a lot of cases.

  2. How on earth can Max get penalty points for this. His missed his breaking point and made the corner as good as he could with full lock on his steer. Next time he should just cut the chicane a win time

    1. He didn’t rejoin the track safely, it’s subtle I grant you but if you watch the replays closely you can quite clearly see he crashes into Kimi. Ergo not safely rejoining the track ergo penalty.

      Next time he should just cut the chicane a win time

      Or, and here is an apparently radical notion, her could just follow the rules and rejoin safely?

      1. It’s racing. People will make mistakes or come in situations that have risk for others.

        You could argue Max should’ve just cut the chicane but you know there would still be discussions about a penalty for gaining an advantage.

        He can’t just disappear

        1. As much as you seem intent on arguing it Max was not in a no win situation. Literally all he had to do was not rejoin the track by using the full track width and crashing into a competitor. Nobody is expecting him to disappear, they just expect him, in his 4th full season in F1, to not drive like a rookie.

          1. He had full steer lock on and still got to the outside of the track. Maybe you have some better magic way to make that turn shorter. It’s not like he opened up to drive into Kimi.

          2. I’m really struggling to understand where you are coming from here.

            You get that he put himself in that position by driving into the track at such an angle? Right? If he hadn’t have turned so much to the right he wouldn’t have had to turn so much to the left. It is simple geometry at this point.

            And I even if you were right (you’re not) and Verstappen had absolutely no way to rejoin the track without using it’s full width then he should have stopped until there was a gap to do it because (and I can’t stress this enough) it was his responsibility to rejoin the track without crashing into another car

            If you still don’t get it then maybe F1 isn’t for you?

          3. so if I don’t agree with you F1 is it for me

            That sums it up

          4. so if I don’t agree with you F1

            It’s not about agreeing with me it’s about agreeing with the facts of the situation.

            1) drivers are penalise for not rejoining the track safely
            2) Verstappen didn’t rejoin the track safely
            3) Verstappen was penalised

            Tell which statement is not a fact.

            That sums it up

            The only thing being summed up here is how utterly blinded by bias you are.

          5. LOL

            It’s just my opinion, get over it

          6. It’s just my opinion, get over it

            When presented with the facts your argument crumbles, just as I thought.

          7. Just believe that if it gives you a better feeling about yourself

            I can accept that different people have different opinions on the exact same situation

            For me it’s clear I don’t like this micro management from stewards. Drivers make mistakes and sometimes this will have an effect on other drivers. This is not automatically a reason for time penalties imho. Save the penalties for real dangerous driving or people cutting the track to overtake others (and don’t give back the position).

          8. This is not automatically a reason for time penalties

            No but breaking the rules is though right? Verstappen broke the rules and got penalised. It’s not subjective you can’t “have an opinion” on it you can just be right or wrong.

            The only thing you can have an opinion on is whether or not he rejoined the track safely. Are you saying that that was Verstappen rejoining the track safely?

    2. I know, by cutting the chicane and rejoining behind Kimi, like you’re technically supposed to.

  3. Now it’s just getting silly. I mean, really. I get the rationale of not punishing Vettel for his lunge because he came off worse. But in what universe is his move less dangerous than the Verstappen/Kimi thing?

    1. And, theoretically the stewards do not considering the outcome of an incident when deciding to take action or not. With that said, a penalty for Vettel would not have seemed uncalled for.

    2. +1 like I have said before if he wasnt penalised for Baku 2017 or Mexico 2016 he wouldnt be penalised for what he did today. Its beyond ridiculous how he gets aways with race bans and penalty points.

    3. Because Vettel’s move was not dangerous at all? Because much of the rest of the race was full of exactly the same pass in exactly the same corner? Because Max is basically the only driver who is running into everyone who gets near him this year?

      Max is the fool, here, and he keeps running his mouth after running into everyone on the track. But that’s par for the course for Formula 1. At least in NASCAR we learn to hate Kyle Busch after a little while.

  4. Max is one of my favorite drivers to watch, but he did re-enter the track unsafely. His comment that Kimi should have waited for him to come back onto the track before driving through the corner is bit cheeky to say the least. If you go off track it is your responsibility to come back on safely and without gaining an advantage. Drivers still on the track are not required to wait for you so you can hold your position.

    1. @bullmello, as you can see from the responses above though, try telling that to somebody who is Dutch…

      1. I’ve seen worse in lap 1 without penalty

        Just stop with these ridiculous penalties

        1. @anunaki, tell me, if the roles of the two drivers had been reversed – in other words, Max was on the receiving end – would you still say that there should have been no action and that it would be “ridiculous” to penalise the other driver?

          1. Like Vettel pushing him off in Spoon today? Yes I actually did say that

          2. Vettel went for a gap that wasn’t there like Max in China. Guess who was penalized and who wasn’t?

          3. @anunaki, again, I will ask you the same question – if the roles of the two drivers had been reversed and Max was on the receiving end in that clash with Kimi, would you still say that there should have been no action and that it would be “ridiculous” to penalise the other driver? Don’t try and shift the topic elsewhere – what is your answer to that specific question?

          4. I can’t speculate how I feel but I think I’d be angry 1st and reasonable later

          5. @anunaki, your continued evasiveness suggests that, if the roles were reversed, you would want a penalty to be applied if another driver had done what Max did.

    2. Max ment that Kimi could see him come off and if he had waited he, Kimi, could have passed him on the left in stead of right. Breaking mistake Max, judgement mistake Kimi. Kimi could have gained a position without damage. No more no less.

      1. Yes i agree with your statement!

  5. Verstappen is in danger now.

    1. Well it’s an easy fix if he just gets a good car. Then, like Vettel at RB the only cars he will meet are the backmarkers

  6. Try to control or discourage as much as you want FIA, it’s inevitably going to happen someday anyway… but for now you can protect your precious veterans.

  7. Verstappen on the radio after his incident with Raikkonen “Why couldn’t he wait till I got back on”. Still makes me laugh.

    1. I know right, wants everyone behind him to just park it when he goes off track. Imagine the uproar if Vettel or Hamilton had said that!

  8. Verstappen shouldn’t have re-joined the track that quickly. He should’ve used a straighter line to re-join the track a bit later. That’s how the incident was entirely avoidable, but of course, he chose the way that would with a 99% guarantee lead to a contact with another car.

    1. Verstappen shouldn’t have re-joined the track that quickly. He should’ve used a straighter line to re-join the track a bit later

      Exactly.

    2. He should just have cut the corner by going straight there. (which Max will do next time instead of trying to the corner normally)

      1. I agree, going straight (and maybe even letting Kimi through) would have been wise to avoid any penalty.

  9. so if you force another car of the track you simple don’t get a penalty point when driving a red car of because you only hurting yourself?

    VES was forced of the track after VET run intro him, compromising his corner(-exit).

    Don’t get the penalty system anymore.. looks like the stewards are more easy with penalties when i comes to Ferrari.
    it is not my opinion, it is a fact.

  10. Max is a hypocrite. In one incident he totally missed the corner but “Kimi should have waited for him to rejoin the track” and in the other he doesn’t leave space for Seb who has the inside wheels already on the curb …?!
    #$@_ off Max! No more excuses!

    Also the 5 seconds penalty is a joke. They need to find a way to force the offending driver to give the place back. The way it is now they will gladly take the penalty and stay ahead.

  11. Max has been in so many of these incidents he’s not going to get a lot of slack.
    Today he was lucky he car was damaged – in fact he has been lucky several times this year.

    1. lucky his car wasn’t damaged..

  12. With Max only able to get 5 more penalty points until September 2019, I think he will be the first driver to receive a race ban due to this system.

Comments are closed.