Verstappen doesn’t agree with Italian GP penalty

Max Verstappen disagreed with his penalty after stewards deemed he was to blame for the crash with Lewis Hamilton at the Italian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen said he didn’t agree after being handed a three-place grid penalty for his role in the accident which eliminated himself and Lewis Hamilton from the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The two title rivals crashed on lap 26, with Verstappen’s Red Bull landing on top of Hamilton’s Mercedes - the rear wheel of the RB16B hitting Hamilton on the head in the process.

After meeting with the stewards, Verstappen was handed a three-place penalty for the Russian Grand Prix in two weeks, but he felt it was a racing incident.

“I don’t fully agree with the penalty as I believe it was a racing incident,” he said afterwards. “It’s very unfortunate what happened today but we are both professionals and so we will move on.”

Sergio Perez was disappointed to miss out on the podium after crossing the line third, but a five-second penalty meant he dropped to fifth

Verstappen wasn’t the only Red Bull driver to be penalised at Monza - Sergio Perez crossed the line third but was given a five-second penalty for passing Charles Leclerc off track, meaning he was classified fifth at the chequered flag.

He said: “It was a very eventful race and a real shame to miss out on the podium.

“With the penalty, I think we hoped for a wider view in the sense that it was my corner and I was ahead of Charles, but it is what it is and we tried to recover.

“From our side we did the best possible race we could as a team but overtaking was impossible today and it was really difficult to keep ahead of the cars behind.

“McLaren were really quick and difficult to beat, they’ve been solid this weekend and especially on the straights they were hard to follow.”