Andrea Stella: “Max Verstappen should have given the position to Oscar Piastri. We did it in Bahrain”. Andrea Stella, McLaren team principal, explains why he believes Verstappen should have given the first position to Piastri.

The final result of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix revolved around what happened between Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen at the first corner and the few hundred meters following it.

Having made a better start than the Dutchman (who started from pole), Piastri arrived at turn 1 slightly ahead of his rival and on the inside line, allowing him to make the corner and the following one. Verstappen, however, chose to resist, but was forced to run off track due to lack of space.

At that point, the four-time world champion from Red Bull rejoined the track after cutting through turn 1 and 2, but retained the first position, not giving it up to the Australian, who had earned the right to it.

Not surprisingly, the race stewards signaled the action to the race directors, who, after reviewing the maneuver, imposed a 5-second penalty on Verstappen to be served at the first (and only) pit stop.

Max was unable to pull a 5-second gap to Oscar Piastri, so after both drivers made their pit stops, Oscar found himself leading the race and managed it to the end.

At the end of the race, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella commented on what happened at turn 1, explaining why he believed the stewards made the right decision by penalizing Max Verstappen for not giving the position to Oscar Piastri.

“The situation at turn 1 was very close between Oscar and Verstappen, to be honest, but you know that F1 is a business that lives on small margins, and this time Oscar, thanks to a great start from the grid and being slightly ahead of Max on the inside line at turn 1, managed to keep the car within the track limits, so he earned the right to the position, and obviously, in that situation, you can’t overtake off track.”

Andrea Stella recalled a recent episode where McLaren had to give the position for making the same type of maneuver as Max Verstappen.

“I think the case is very clear, and like we did with Lando in Bahrain, you’ll remember we realized we were overtaking Lewis Hamilton off track, and even though Hamilton took us off track, we had to instruct the driver to give the position back.”

“So I believe this is a clear case. It should not create any controversy. If anything, I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight how well Oscar is doing. It was a clean, tough, and extremely precise race,” concluded the Italian manager.