Max Verstappen incident opens up major penalty debate for F1 2025 season

Max Verstappen was irate after receiving a 10s penalty in Abu Dhabi
Max Verstappen received a 10-second penalty for an incident with Oscar Piastri on the opening lap of the Abu Dhabi GP, and blasted the “stupid idiot” stewards for it.
The Red Bull driver set the McLaren-Ferrari Constructors’ Championship battle on fire with a manoeuvre in which the stewards only saw the Dutch driver at fault.
Uncovered: Max Verstappen’s first turn incident with Oscar Piastri
Verstappen made contact with Piastri on the inside of Turn 1 on the opening lap of the final race of the year at the Yas Marina Circuit. The Red Bull driver was ambitious in his move knowing that both Piastri and Lando Norris would be as conservative as possible in securing McLaren’s Constructors’ Championship.
The Red Bull driver didn’t expect the Australian driver to be unwilling to give in. Verstappen lifted off the throttle pedal and went on the brakes after Piastri in search of Turn 1’s inside line. Piastri didn’t give an extra inch, just enough room for Verstappen to stay inside the kerb of Turn 1.
However, Verstappen’s excessive speed through the inside line meant that contact between the two cars was inevitable near the exit of the corner. The right front tyre of the RB20 hit the left rear tyre of the MCL38, causing Piastri to spin and drop to last place.
Verstappen was more fortunate and his spin was a near-perfect 360 degree that relegated him to 11th place just ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Both drivers had no apparent damage to their cars. Although Piastri pitted to change his set of medium tyres for a set of hard tyres and with that his race was mostly compromised.
The stewards imposed a 10-second time penalty on Verstappen for this incident. A very severe penalty for a first lap incident in Turn 1. The stewards explained that the Red Bull driver was never sufficiently alongside Piastri and is solely to blame for the contact.
“Car 1 [Verstappen] attempted to overtake Car 81 [Piastri] on the inside into Turn 1, but never got far enough alongside,” read the statement. “Both cars collided shortly after the apex. The Stewards determine that the driver of Car 1 was wholly at fault and caused the collision.”.
And that is correct. Verstappen was never ahead at the apex and was solely at fault for this contact. The corner was Piastri’s and despite being aggressive on his defence, he was within his rights to be as aggressive as he wished to be.
It is curious that since the recent change of FIA race director, although in theory he is not responsible for these decisions, the penalties have increased in amount and shape. In terms of stewards, the only one present at both Qatar and Abu Dhabi is former F1 driver Derek Warwick.
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If we look at the closest and most similar precedent, we find the incident between Lance Stroll and Alexander Albon at the last Qatar GP. The Canadian driver also hit Albon’s Williams and received a 10-second penalty. In this case, the stewards explained the action as follows:
‘The driver of Car 18 [Stroll] entered turn 4, rode the kerb which created understeer, taking his car into the side of Car 23 [Albon]. Despite this being a lap 1 incident, the collision was not the result of normal lap 1 crowding, so the usual tolerance for lap 1 instances is not applicable’.
In the case of the accident between Verstappen and Piastri, there is no mention of any mitigation for a first lap incident. And while it is true that there was no big crowding that caused the accident, at least the decision document announcing the penalty for the Red Bull driver should also include this last explanatory line.
The same penalties were applied to Valtteri Bottas and Oscar Piastri in Abu Dhabi for similar incidents too. The Finnish driver collided with Sergio Perez at Turn 6 also on the opening lap and forced the Mexican driver to retire.
Therefore, we can conclude that there is a certain consistency since the Qatar GP in terms of this type of action and its consequent penalty. But if we go a bit further this season, in the incident between Verstappen and Norris at turn 1 on the opening lap of the US Grand Prix, the Red Bull driver pushed Norris wide and both drivers had to use the outside of the track.
Although there was no contact between the two, the action cost the McLaren driver up to three positions on track and Verstappen gained the position to Norris without further consequence. In this case, the first lap incident mitigation was applied in order not to sanction the Dutch driver.
Forgetting the latter. We come from two races where there really is a certain consistency and logic when applying penalties in certain race contexts and this should be good news, but now, is this the consistency that is desired from now on?
From the ‘let them race’ motto where the rules were virtually ignored, we have gone to the opposite extreme where the rules are used with the most severe penalties possible. These are two totally opposite philosophies of interpreting the grey areas and managing the races.
Until recently, for opening lap actions where there was a single culprit, the penalty imposed was a 5-second penalty. If it was a race incident with no clear culprit, no penalty was imposed.
Undoubtedly, in a 2025 season where the on-track action is expected to be the most interesting in recent years, the stewards and the FIA should not be the protagonists of what happens on the track.
This severity in the penalties may be more or less to our liking, but it is certain that the rules have been applied correctly in each case during these final two races. This is already a step forward, but there is still a long way to go.
It is clear the severity of these penalties must be reviewed and, very important, they should not be applied for the consequence of the incident, but for the cause and the nature of the incident.
And, it is also very important that drivers are allowed to be ambitious and optimistic to improve the action and promote overtaking, but always with respect for the other because as someone once said a while ago: “all the time you have to leave a space”.
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