Verstappen fumes as penalty drops him to second in Saudi Arabia

Max Verstappen courted controversy once again in Saudi Arabia after he was handed a five-second penalty to cost him the lead and a shot at victory on Sunday.

Taking to the run-off to pass Oscar Piastri at the first corner on the opening lap in Jeddah, the Red Bull Racing man did not relinquish the position to the McLaren driver, instead opting to try and build a lead in the clean air, affording the stewards the opportunity to hand down a time penalty at his next pit-stop.

The incident was similar to one featuring the same driver at the same corner back in 2021, when Verstappen passed Lewis Hamilton, then in a Mercedes, but was forced by the stewards that day to drop behind the Brit.

The Dutchman refused to comment on the incident afterwards, though team boss Christian Horner brought out screenshots claiming Verstappen was ahead and had right to space around the outside of Piastri when speaking to the media.

He said: “Arguably without that penalty we would have won today, so there are a lot of positives to take, a lot of lessons and we know where we have to improve.

“We believed Max was clearly ahead on the first lap and it was a very harsh decision but at that point it was best to concede, serve the penalty, get your head down and keep going.”

Yuki Tsunoda’s struggles at the start of his Red Bull career continued though as he was eliminated on the opening lap. With the pack in close proximity, the Japanese collided with former Red Bull man Pierre Gasly, now at Alpine, forcing the pair out on the spot and bringing out the only safety car of the race.