Max Verstappen remains firmly against the five-second penalty he received which cost him a podium finish at Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman had been in a race-long battle with Valtteri Bottas, after getting ahead at the start, and had a done a superb job of keeping the more powerful Mercedes at bay.
After the Finn had been forced onto a longer strategy to help Lewis Hamilton, however, it meant he could attack the Red Bull on fresher tyres in the closing stages with the pair making contact as Bottas pulled alongside approaching the first chicane.
“We were in a position where we didn’t expect to be. I think we gave him a car width, he clipped my wheel and he had to go straight. I don’t agree with it,” said Verstappen.
“But maybe they took the penalty because earlier in the race when he first tried to tag me I went a bit wide but even then I think it’s not fair because they give it straight away.”
The 20-year-old was referring to a close call earlier in the race when Bottas locked up going up the inside into the same chicane with Max having to take the shortcut.
Regardless, furious by the decision, Verstappen continued to fight until the checkered flag keeping the Mercedes behind but in doing so, lost time to Sebastian Vettel meaning when the five seconds were added on, he fell behind the Ferrari.
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On Monday, talking to Holland’s Ziggo Sport, his view on the battle hadn’t changed even after some time to reflect.
“I still don’t agree with the decision,” he told their ‘Peptalk‘ program. “Obviously I’ve seen the footage. I just defended. Of course, you try to make the space as small as possible so your turn-in to the corner is not compromised.
“We hit each other and maybe I could’ve given him a few millimetres more space, but he was on the white line.
“In hindsight, it’s easy to say ‘I should’ve done this or that’, but when you arrive at a corner doing 340kp/h, it makes for a whole different decision-making situation than when reviewing it on the video footage.”
Naturally, Bottas had an alternative view, adding: “There’s a very clear rule that says you need to leave a car’s width on the outside but he didn’t, so we touched.
“If a car is there you need to leave room for that car and he didn’t, that’s why we touched because he moved and it was a very clear move.”
