12/12/2024
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen apologised to Oscar Piastri following their first lap clash, but feels the stewards are idiots.
In a typically aggressive move in the first corner, the Dutchman locked wheel with the Australian sending both into spins. While the world champion continued having dropped seven positions, Piastri rejoined the race at the back of the field.
To make matters worse, in his efforts to catch up and join the fray, the McLaren driver subsequently ran into the back of Franco Colapinto, incurring front wing damage that necessitated an early pit stop, while also picking up a 10s penalty.
Immediately after the race Verstappen apologised to the Australian but remained resentful at the stewards for his own 10s penalty.
"My launch was good and then I tried to grab the inside and I quickly realized, once I committed to it, that the gap was closing and I wanted to try and get out of it, because I didn't want to naturally, of course, crash with Oscar," explained the Dutchman at race end. "But unfortunately, we still clipped each other.
"I already apologized to Oscar," he continued, "it is not what you want to happen, and especially not with him. He's a great guy but it happened, and it is a bit unfortunate.
"The thing was that, when you're in that position, you're focusing on the car ahead, you commit. When you start first or second, you never really look behind.
"So I went for it, and then I realized, 'shit, he doesn't see me there'. So I was like trying to get out of it, but then we still clipped."
During the race, when notified of the penalty, Verstappen called the stewards "idiots".
"Of course, that is on me," he told reporters at race end, "but I was expecting maybe 20 seconds, 30 seconds, I don't know, stop and go!
"Maybe something to talk about for next time," he laughed. "I don't understand anything anymore, but it's fine, whatever. I'm not going to get angry about stuff like that. It's not worth my time.
"Like I said, the most important thing is that I apologize to Oscar, and that's it."
"He came and apologized straight away," confirmed Piastri." The stewards deemed there was a penalty, so we go again next year.
"It was a tough race from then on," he admitted, "but again, we achieved our main objective today, and that's all that matters.
"It was a pretty miserable race for myself, but of course, the biggest thing today is we clinched the championship."
Check out our Sunday gallery from the Yas Marina here.