One of the main talking points in Jeddah — inevitably — was the penalty given to Max Verstappen for cutting Turn 2 while trying to defend the race lead from Oscar Piastri at the start.
The stewards immediately noted the incident, which soon came under investigation and was then turned into a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage by cutting the first chicane and keeping his position ahead of the McLaren driver.
After the race, Verstappen refrained from making hasty or direct comments, simply stating he had nothing to add and, most notably, that he wasn’t allowed to speak openly. That statement alone said more than a thousand words.
Christian Horner, however, did express his opinion clearly. During the usual post-race press conference, he showed journalists footage from Verstappen’s car — not the TV broadcast camera, but the left-side camera mounted beside the airbox.
This isn’t a new approach: back in October last year, Horner similarly presented the media with telemetry data from Lando Norris and Max Verstappen to defend his driver after penalties in Mexico.
“I think it’s a very harsh decision. We didn’t give the position back because we didn’t believe Max had done anything wrong. You can clearly see that at the apex of the corner, in our view, Max was clearly ahead,” Horner said, also explaining why Red Bull chose to accept the penalty rather than surrender the position to Oscar Piastri. Giving up the place and dropping into dirty air would have significantly complicated the race.
“The engagement rules that were previously discussed make this decision really harsh. If we had given the position back, we’d have been in dirty air. Sure, we could’ve done it, but then you’d risk George [Russell] coming through.”
“The best thing to do, once the penalty was given, was to put our heads down and get on with it, and I think today it’s a shame because we saw our pace, at least compared to the McLarens and the others, in the first stint on mediums.”
Horner again questioned the harshness of the sanction and particularly the reasoning behind the stewards’ conclusion, maintaining that Verstappen was ahead at the apex. He also suggested that Turn 1 incidents are usually treated more leniently and couldn’t understand why that wasn’t the case this time.
“Looking at the situation, I don’t understand how they reached that conclusion. They both entered at the same speed. Oscar ran deep into the corner. They ended up there together, but according to their rules, the front wheel has to at least be alongside the other car’s mirror. It’s really, really borderline.”
“Max, at that point, can’t just disappear, so maybe these rules need to be looked at again. I don’t know what happened to the ‘let them race’ idea on the first lap. It seems to have been forgotten.” That’s actually something the stewards did consider, as it was Turn 1 on Lap 1 — and for that reason, they reduced the penalty from 10 to 5 seconds.
F1 guidelines state that a car overtaking on the inside must have its front axle at least alongside the mirror of the other car before the apex. Moreover, the overtake must be completed safely and under control from entry to exit, staying within track limits — factors that led the stewards to deem the corner as Piastri’s.
Red Bull also considered filing a protest, presenting the stills Horner showed during the press conference, taken from an alternative camera angle not available to the stewards at the time. However, it’s unlikely that those images alone would be enough to change a decision that has already been made quite definitively based on available evidence.
“The stewards obviously think it was a very clear incident. We spoke with them after the race. The issue is that, if we protested, they would most likely stick with the same decision. We’ll ask them to look at the onboard footage that wasn’t available at the time,” Horner added.
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