Ralf Schumacher believes the crux of Max Verstappen’s penalty in Saudi Arabia wasn’t that he went off the track to stay ahead of Oscar Piastri, but that he gained a lasting advantage by doing so.

Verstappen and Piastri raced for the lead off the line at the Jeddah Corniche circuit, the McLaren driver making a better getaway than the pole-sitter.

Max Verstappen was given a five-second penalty in Saudi

Pulling alongside Verstappen on the run to Turn 1, Piastri edged ahead to gain the apex which meant the corner was his.

Verstappen though, came out ahead as he cut across the runoff area on the inside of the corner, and claimed the McLaren driver had “pushed” him off.

As the stewards investigated the incident, Verstappen quickly put distance between himself and the chasing Aussie, that made easier by the clean air ahead of him.

Verstappen was given a five-second penalty, the stewards mitigating it down from the usual 10-second punishment for gaining a lasting advantage off the track.

More analysis of Max Verstappen’s Saudi GP

👉 Piastri and Verstappen data reveals true story behind Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

👉 Max Verstappen telemetry data shows new clear evidence in Piastri battle

“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,” read the statement.

“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 5-second time penalty instead.”

Based on that ‘gained a lasting advantage’ line, Schumacher reckons Verstappen didn’t even have to give the position back and drop behind the Australian driver.

All he had to do was fall back enough to allow Piastri to draw level, and then he could’ve avoided the situation.

“In my eyes, and you will have to verify this with the stewards, the cutting off itself was not the biggest problem,” the former F1 driver said on Sky Deutschland’s Backstage Boxengasse podcast.

“However, he took it in his stride and managed to gain at least two car lengths. He simply accelerated and took advantage of that.

“I think that was the real cause of the penalty. He grabbed an advantage.

“If he had held back a little bit, they might have sat side by side in the next corner and because of that, he might have gotten away with it.”

Instead, Verstappen blasted clear of his McLaren rival, his RB21 and its Pirelli tyres given an advantage over the chasing pack by having clean air ahead.

The Dutchman had pulled three seconds clear of Piastri when the McLaren driver pitted on lap 19 with Verstappen in two laps later at which time he took his penalty, his five seconds effectively reduced to just two.

Martin Brundle declared Verstappen knows how to “game the system”, but in Saudi Arabia, it didn’t play out as he would’ve wanted.

“It has always been clear: if you leave the track and gain an advantage, which [Verstappen] did, because he kept the position, then that position must be given back. The decision ultimately lies with the team; it’s their call to tell the driver to drop back,” he told Sky F1.

“It’s better to give up that one position than to risk a five-second time penalty.

“He’s so clever, he’s got so much control of the car, that he games the system. But he lost out on that throw of the dice.”

Verstappen, however, felt that he had been wronged by the stewards’ decision but kept his own counsel when he spoke during the post-race FIA press conference.

“Like I said before, it’s just the world we live in,” he said. “You can’t share your opinion because it’s not appreciated apparently, or people can’t handle the full truth.

“Honestly, it’s better if I don’t say too much.

“It also saves my time because we already have to do so much. It’s honestly just how everything is becoming. Everyone is super sensitive about everything.

“And what we have currently, we cannot be critical anyway. So less talking – even better for me.”

Despite Verstappen’s stance and that of his Red Bull higher-ups, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, rival drivers and team bosses believe Red Bull got it wrong by not telling Verstappen to give the position back to Piastri.

Asked if he thought Verstappen could have been surprised by the penalty, George Russell told the media, including PlanetF1.com: “No, not at all. I was quite surprised he didn’t give the position back straight away, to be honest.”

That’s also the opinion of Sauber team boss Jonathan Wheatley, who was Red Bull’s former sporting director before taking up his new post with the Hinwil squad.

“I would have done something different, I would have advised to do something differently, I think that was probably the best thing,” he said.

“I don’t want anyone commenting on what we would do as a team, I don’t want to comment on what other people would do, but I think in our team, we would have handled it differently, and certainly had a conversation about doing things differently.

“It was a little bit the other way around, but it was like Turn 12 [Verstappen versus Lando Norris] in Texas last year.”

Red Bull will not be challenging the decision to impose the penalty on Verstappen, the team confirming that to PlanetF1.com.

Read next: Ecclestone asks burning Max Verstappen question after controversial penalty