Max Verstappen has been criticised for the comments which resulted in him losing pole for the Mexican Grand Prix.
The Dutchman was given a three-place grid drop after admitting he had seen Valtteri Bottas’ stricken Mercedes but opted not to lift despite going through a yellow flag zone on his second run in Q3.
Prior to that, the stewards had initially ruled in Verstappen’s favour noting he had not gone faster in the mini-sector where Bottas’ car was located and after their later decision, unsurprisingly, Max was not happy.
“It is very disappointing to be handed a grid penalty for the race,” he said.
“Ferrari will be very quick tomorrow so tyre life will be important but we have a really good race car so it should be a close fight.”
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Red Bull boss Christian Horner concurred with his driver having seen two excellent laps go to waste.
“Max put in a phenomenal performance throughout qualifying,” he told Verstappen.nl
“He was quickest in Q1, second quickest in Q2 and quickest in Q3 to achieve his second pole position of the season.
“It is a great shame that Max has lost pole position and will now start from fourth place on the grid. Track position is important here because it’s very difficult to overtake and follow another car at this circuit.
“Now let’s see what tomorrow brings.”
1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve was much less sympathetic to the 22-year-old’s plight.
“I think he set a bad example,” he told Motorsport-Magazin. “He was on pole, he did not think and that really wasn’t very clever.
“The driver should never be allowed to decide whether it’s safe or not because there could be something else behind the corner that he does not know about.
“He could get a puncture and crash into the car or break a suspension or a wing and crash. That’s not a good excuse.”
Red Bull had also argued that the LED board was not signalling a yellow flag despite a real flag being waved just a few metres before.
“What counts is the flag on the track, that’s the main rule,” Villeneuve added. “You have to obey the flags, that’s the first thing you learn in Formula 1.”