Max Verstappen on turn 1 incident in Saudi Arabia: “Any discussion is a waste of time”. Max Verstappen reacts to his 5-second penalty for the Turn 1 incident at the 2025 Saudi Arabian GP.

F1 Saudi Arabia, Max Verstappen Bitter After the Race
Another race decided at the start, but this time the pole sitter didn’t win. Max Verstappen would certainly have preferred his streak of “confirmed” pole positions to continue in Jeddah, where he achieved another feat thanks to the team’s work. However, the Dutchman had a worse start than Oscar Piastri and forced the maneuver at Turn 1, going wide and cutting the chicane. Since he didn’t give the position back, he was handed a five-second penalty.

Max Verstappen’s intention was clear: stay ahead of Oscar Piastri on track, even at the cost of a penalty, because letting the Australian go at Turn 1 would have meant certain defeat. The world champion, however, does not think the penalty given by the stewards was fair.

Max Verstappen’s Comments
“I believe that any word on this topic would be a waste of time for everyone. We’ve talked about it so many times; this year the rules are different, but honestly, it’s not my problem,” he commented to Sky Sports UK. “I think the positive side is that we had good race pace, and I was much happier with the medium tires. I didn’t expect the car to have this pace. But this shows that the work on the car between Friday and Saturday helped us a lot with tire wear.”

“It’s not in my interest to appeal this decision,” the world champion added. “The only thing I care about now is going home.” It’s important to remember that the rules for racing duels have changed since 2024. Now, the driver on the inside has the right to set up the corner without having to leave space for the opponent’s car, as long as they stay within the track limits. This was exactly what Oscar Piastri did at Turn 1.