McLaren boss Andrea Stella has insisted Red Bull should have told Max Verstappen to cede the lead to avoid being penalised in Formula 1‘s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Verstappen lost out on a probable win in Jeddah last weekend when he was compelled to serve a five-second penalty that slipped him to second behind Oscar Piastri.
The Dutchman had lined up on pole position, but a more sluggish launch than his rival enabled Piastri to come alongside the Red Bull on the short approach to Turn 1.
Piastri held the inside line, though it was Verstappen on the outside who emerged ahead as he trailed deep and cut across Turn 2 to maintain the position over Piastri.
Verstappen argued he was pushed wide, but the stewards deemed that he had gained an advantage and slapped him with a punishment that he served at his pit stop.
But despite Red Bull’s adamance that Verstappen was ahead at the apex and entitled to the corner, Stella disputed that as he voiced that the right decision was made.
“The situation at Turn 1 was very close between Oscar and Verstappen, in all honesty,” Stella acknowledged.
“But you know F1 is a business that lives on small margins, and this time Oscar, thanks to a great start on the grid and thanks to the position on the inside of Turn 1 slightly ahead of Max was able to keep the car within the track limits, so he gained the right of position and obviously in that situation you can’t overtake off the track.”
McLaren highlights precedence
Stella recalled how McLaren instructed Lando Norris to return a spot to Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton when he passed outside track limits the previous weekend in Bahrain.
“I think the case is very clear and as we did with Lando in Bahrain, you will remember that we realised that we were overtaking Hamilton off the track and even though Hamilton took us off the track, we just had to instruct the driver to give back the position,” he recounted.
“So I think this is a clear case. It shouldn’t create any controversy.
“If anything, I would like to take the opportunity to underline how well Oscar is doing, as in, it’s a clean, hard and extremely precise race.”
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