Verstappen rates penalised Raikkonen pass in US as his best overtake

Max Verstappen says he’s “made peace” with the fallout from the United States Grand Prix but still insists his last-lap pass on Kimi Raikkonen for third place was his best overtaking manoeuvre of the year.

Verstappen rates penalised Raikkonen pass in US as his best overtake

Max Verstappen says he’s “made peace” with the fallout from the United States Grand Prix but still insists his last-lap pass on Kimi Raikkonen for third place was his best overtaking manoeuvre of the year.

The Red Bull driver was penalised for exceeding track limits when passing Raikkonen on the final lap of the US race to steal third place having started a lowly 16th place due to engine grid penalties. Verstappen’s pass on the Finn was immediately put under investigation by the FIA race stewards but a decision was only made by the time the Dutch driver made it into the cool-down room in preparation for the podium ceremony.

A disgruntled Verstappen was told to leave the podium trio and duly vented his frustration at the decision to the media, while his father Jos accused the FIA of favouring Ferrari in a Twitter post, which sparked a huge debate on the issue of F1 overtaking and track limits. Verstappen says the US race was not “by the book that whole weekend” with a number of off-track incidents not being penalised, but was keen to focus on the positives from the race.

In a post on his official website, Verstappen responded to the question on whether the move on the Ferrari driver was his best of the season: “Yes, because this year I actually didn’t have that many overtakes. With this car you are actually only able to overtake on the straights. Which is really not that satisfying compared to last year.

“Of course, at first your initial reaction is something like: ‘Why? It was a great move.’ But when you look at the rules, it was not correct. Nothing was by the book that whole weekend. Drivers were getting off track without being penalized for it.”

Verstappen won in Malaysia and Mexico to cap a strong end to his 2017 F1 campaign that was hampered by several retirements in the opening races. The Red Bull driver was eager to focus on the plus points from his season including his performance at the Circuit of the Americas despite the late penalty.

“You always need to focus on the positives,” he said. “It was still a nice race and everyone enjoyed the excitement all the way down to the final lap. It’s always nice to be on the podium, but to finish fourth after having started sixteenth, is still a great result. It wasn’t as painful as most people thought it was. In the end I made my peace with it.”

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