Ex-Red Bull chief would have played Max Verstappen incident differently
Ex-Red Bull chief says he would have taken a different approach to Max Verstappen's Turn 1 incident in Jeddah.
Former Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley says he would have handled Max Verstappen’s Turn 1 incident at the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix differently.
Verstappen, who was on pole position, was handed a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when he took to the run-off at the first corner to retain his position ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who had made a better start.
The four-time world champion served his punishment during his only pit stop and ultimately dropped behind Piastri as he finished second, 2.8s behind his rival.
Wheatley, who left Red Bull over the winter to become Sauber’s new team principal, said he would have handled the incident differently if he was still running things at his former team.
“Oh, I know what my thoughts were,” Wheatley said.
“I mean, I would have done something different, I would have advised to do something differently, I think that was probably the best thing.
“I don’t want anyone commenting on what we would do as a team, I don’t want to comment on what other people would do, but I think in our team, we would have handled it differently, and certainly had a conversation about doing things differently.
“It was a little bit the other way around, but it was like Turn 12 [Verstappen versus Lando Norris] in Texas last year.”
The penalty left Verstappen and Red Bull angry, with team principal Christian Horner presenting evidence to argue against the stewards decision.
“We had that sort of discussion with the Race Director before the race through briefings and whatever else,” Horner said after the race.
“We have this notion of ‘let them race’ – I don’t know where Max was supposed to go at that first corner. We’ve lost the race by [2.8] seconds so, yeah, it’s tough.
“I think the most positive thing for us today was the pace was there – it was a very positive race. Congrats to Oscar, but [it’s] disappointing not to get the win.”
The stewards determined “that Car 81 (Piastri) had its front axle at least alongside the mirror of Car 1 (Verstappen) prior to and at the apex of corner 1 when trying to overtake Car 1 on the inside.
“In fact, Car 81 was alongside Car 1 at the apex. Based on the Driver’s Standards Guidelines, it was therefore Car 81’s corner and he was entitled to be given room. Car 1 then left the track and gained a lasting advantage that was not given back. He stayed in front of Car 81 and sought to build on the advantage.”
They used mitigating services to issue Verstappen with a five-second penalty instead of the baseline 10-second penalty due to the incident taking place at Turn 1 on the opening lap.
Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle also felt Red Bull had "misread" the incident.
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