The FIA have released a decision document regarding Max Verstappen’s penalty at the Saudi Grand Prix this weekend.
The reigning world champion was given a five-second penalty early in Sunday’s race for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, specifically by staying ahead of Oscar Piastri at the first corner.
The pair’s first and only pit stops saw them swap positions as Verstappen served his penalty, eventually fighting back to less than three seconds behind the Australian winner.
The document confirms that Verstappen was punished because Piastri was alongside him and entitled to attempt to pass fairly, with the stewards ruling that the Dutchman ‘gained a lasting advantage that was not given back’.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner has spoken out against the decision, with Verstappen himself refusing to be drawn into overt criticism of the penalty, but the decision document revealed that the punishment could have been even more severe.
Why was Verstappen penalised at the Saudi GP?
The FIA revealed that Verstappen could have faced a similar punishment to Racing Bulls star Liam Lawson, who was hit with a 10-second penalty near the end of the race, but mitigating circumstances lowered the punishment.
The official FIA document read: “The stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry and in-car video evidence and determined that car 81 had its front axle at least alongside the mirror of car 1 prior to and at the apex of corner 1 when trying to overtake car 1 on the inside. In fact, car 81 was alongside car 1 at the apex.
“Based on the driver’s standards guidelines, it was therefore car 81’s corner and he was entitled to be given room. Car 1 then left the track and gained a lasting advantage that was not given back. He stayed in front of car 81 and sought to build on the advantage.
“Ordinarily, the baseline penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage is 10 seconds.
“However, given that this was lap one and turn one incident, we considered that to be a mitigating circumstance and imposed a five-second time penalty instead.”
