FIA accused of ‘over-reaction’ with ‘very harsh’ Verstappen penalties

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has accused the FIA of over-reacting, following Max Verstappen’s two separate “very harsh” 10-second time penalties during the Mexico City Grand Prix. 

The reigning F1 drivers’ champion finished sixth and suffered a 10-point blow to title rival Lando Norris, who was involved in both incidents. 

Verstappen received the penalties and two penalty points for two incidents on lap 10, whilst battling Norris for second. 

Firstly, he was judged as having forced Norris off the circuit at Turn 4, before he was deemed as having gained an advantage off the circuit at Turn 7, where he overtook the Briton. 

The first incident had shades of similarity to what happened between the pair in Austin, where Norris received a five-second time penalty. 

Marko was disappointed by the penalties Verstappen received and believes what happened at the Circuit of the Americas had an impact on the action taken by the stewards. 

“The penalties were very, very harsh,” Marko told Sky Sports Germany. “I think that was an over-reaction to what happened in Austin.

“You have five seconds and you have 10 seconds, but now we had twice 10 seconds and I think that was very harsh.”

Mexico City ‘very sobering’

Regardless of the heavy penalties, Verstappen did not have the pace to challenge for a rostrum at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. 

Carlos Sainz claimed victory ahead of Norris and Charles Leclerc, with Red Bull’s pace having been much weaker than Ferrari’s and McLaren’s. 

Tyre grip was, again, a complained about issue by Verstappen, who suffered from a similar issue in third practice. 

The Milton Keynes-based team has now fallen behind Ferrari and into third in the F1 constructors’ championship, cementing a disappointing weekend for Red Bull.

“It was unfortunately very sobering,” conceded Marko. “We were not particularly competitive with both tyre compounds and the tyre wear was also higher than our competitors. 

“And that might be partly because we didn’t get to drive on Friday, but still. The difference was very big.

“We didn’t come close to Ferrari in terms of speed, neither with the medium nor the hard tyre. And if you looked at Norris’ times especially at the end, it was unbelievable.”