Pointed out to them that similar incidents were not met with penalties in Formula 2, Red Bull were “optimistic” that Max Verstappen would escape one in Saudi Arabia.

But, that did not prove to be the case, as Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko doubled down on his belief that a five-second penalty issued to Verstappen – following a first-corner encounter with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri – “cost him the victory”.

FIA’s Max Verstappen penalty verdict: Right or wrong?

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Polesitter Verstappen and Piastri both made a beeline for the Turn 1 apex at the start of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Piastri taking the inside line as Verstappen looked around the outside, cut the chicane and emerged P1. With Verstappen maintaining the lead, the FIA stewards brandished a five-second penalty.

Ultimately finishing 2.8 seconds behind race winner Piastri – also the new leader of the Drivers’ Championship –  Verstappen was biting his tongue post-race as “people can’t handle the full truth”, with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also voicing his disapproval.

Marko could also be included in the voices of frustration from the Red Bull camp, and a few days too cool off and reflect after the conclusion of the race weekend and triple-header, has done little to change Marko’s mind.

“With a little distance from the action at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on the Jeddah Cornice Circuit, I maintain that Max Verstappen’s five-second penalty cost him the victory,” Marko wrote in his Speedweek column.

As for why Marko feels that way, he pointed to a lack of passing opportunities, plus Verstappen’s pace versus Piastri in the second and final stint, as evidence.

“Overtaking is becoming increasingly difficult in modern Formula 1, because as soon as a driver finds himself in the air vortices of the car in front, his own car not only loses aerodynamic performance, it also affects the tyres,” Marko continued.

“In Jeddah, we saw how Max was able to pull away from Oscar Piastri by 2.5 seconds in the first part of the race. After the stop, Verstappen made up time on the Australian, which shows me that he had the speed to win. But in the end, Max didn’t get close enough to attack Piastri.

“There wasn’t much discussion on the radio about giving the place back to Piastri in order to avoid this penalty. Our strategy expert and contact person at the FIA had pointed this out: We had seen several cases in Formula 2 in the first corner that were pretty much the same as Verstappen against Piastri later on. There were no penalties, just warnings. Luke Browning even did it twice and got away without a penalty.

“We saw the scene more as a racing incident, which can happen from time to time in the first corner after the start. The images were also a little distorted: The first camera shot showed Piastri clearly in front, but then in the actual braking zone Max was ahead again.

“We were therefore optimistic that this would go off without penalties and therefore decided not to give up the position, knowing of course that once behind Piastri, it would be difficult to get past the McLaren again.

“Max’s start was not quite as good as Piastri’s, because Verstappen had spinning wheels in second and third gear, so Piastri was able to pull level.”

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F1 teams can appeal the decisions made by FIA stewards’ through the right-of-review process, but, Red Bull has confirmed to PlanetF1.com that the team will not be challenging Verstappen’s five-second penalty.

Following the race, Horner had indicated that Red Bull would be unlikely to succeed with such an action.

“Everything has to be objectively looked at in isolation, and that’s a really marginal call,” Horner told the media, including PlanetF1.com, as he came with a screenshot of Verstappen’s onboard, showing his left-front wheel slightly in front of Piastri’s right-front as they turned into Turn 1.

“I think the stewards, obviously… we spoke to them after the race, they think it was a slam dunk. So the problem is, if we’re to protest it, then they’re gonna most likely hold the line.

“We’ll ask them to have a look at the the onboard footage that wasn’t available at the time. But, yeah, I think that’s what it is.

“When you look at that, I can’t see how they got to that conclusion. They’ve both gone in at the same speed. Oscar has run deep into the corner. Max can’t just disappear at this point in time.

“So perhaps these rules need a relook at. I don’t know what’s happened to ‘let them race’ on the first lap. That seems to have been abandoned.”

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