Max Verstappen apologised to Oscar Piastri after hitting his McLaren at Flip 1 of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, however questioned the present penalty process in Formulation 1.
The 2024 world champion tried to go up the within of Piastri initially of the season finale however as a substitute crashed into the Australian, who dropped to the again in consequence.
It might have had a huge effect on the constructors’ championship however, finally, McLaren nonetheless ended its 26-year watch for a groups’ title as Lando Norris gained and Piastri recovered to tenth.
Verstappen stated over crew radio that the incident was “unfortunate” however revealed he had stated sorry to Piastri after the race.
“My launch was good after which I attempted to seize the within and I rapidly realised, as soon as I dedicated to it, that the hole was closing and I wished to try to get out of it, as a result of I did not need to naturally, in fact, crash with Oscar,” he stated.
“However sadly, we nonetheless clipped one another, however I already apologised to Oscar, it isn’t what you need to occur, and particularly not with him. He is an incredible man nevertheless it occurred, and it’s a bit unlucky.
“The factor was that, once you’re in that place, you are specializing in the automotive forward…you commit. If you begin first or second, you by no means actually look behind.
“So I went for it, after which I realised, ‘shit, he does not see me there’. So I used to be like making an attempt to get out of it, however then we nonetheless clipped.”
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38 and Max Verstappen, Crimson Bull Racing RB20 collide on the nook inflicting one another to spin
Photograph by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Photos
Verstappen additionally labelled the stewards “idiots” through crew radio for handing him a 10-second penalty for inflicting the collision.
He continued to query the choice when requested about it after the race, the place he finally completed sixth.
“After all, that’s on me. However I used to be anticipating possibly 20 seconds, 30 seconds, I do not know, cease and go!,” he stated sarcastically. “So possibly one thing to speak about for subsequent time.
“I do not perceive something anymore, nevertheless it’s fantastic, no matter. I am not going to get indignant about stuff like that.
“It is not value my time and yeah, simply have a break. Like I stated, an important factor is that I apologise to Oscar and that is it.”
Piastri was at the least happy to have the ability to toast constructors’ success with McLaren regardless of a race to overlook for the Australian.
When requested if Verstappen’s overtaking try was too optimistic, Piastri informed Sky Sports activities: “In all probability sure, however he got here and apologised right away,”
“The stewards deemed there was a penalty, so we go once more subsequent yr, it was a tricky race from then on however once more, we achieved our essential goal immediately and that’s all that issues.
“It was a fairly depressing race for myself however in fact, the most important factor immediately is we clinched the championship.
“It is a large credit score to everybody and McLaren for what they’ve achieved this yr and I could not be prouder of all of them.”
Images from Abu Dhabi GP Race
Learn Additionally:
On this article
Mark Mann-Bryans
Formulation 1
Be the primary to know and subscribe for real-time information e-mail updates on these subjects
Subscribe to information alerts
