Max Verstappen admits: “Time penalty for incident with Charles Leclerc at the start was justified” – F1journaal.be

During the start of the Las Vegas GP there was an ‘incident’ between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. Verstappen pushed Leclerc off the track and received a five-second penalty. After the race, Verstappen admitted that the punishment was justified?

Initially, Verstappen showed in an ironic way that he did not really agree with the penalty, but after the race and when he had viewed the images again, Verstappen made it clear that he believed the time penalty was justified.

“The start was good but then we both braked quite late to defend the position but I guess I was on the inside on the dirt,” Verstappen looked back on the start of the race. “As soon as you went a little off the ideal driving line, there was very little grip and that is what happened. I braked and had no grip.”

“I didn’t want to push Charles off the track but I couldn’t slow down and I kept sliding on four wheels. That’s why I had to go wide.”

“At that moment you are full of adrenaline and you are not happy with the decision. But when I look back on it, it was probably the right decision.”

“With that five-second time penalty, it was a bit more difficult to get back to the front.”