Verstappen apologised for clash, penalty “speaks for itself”

Oscar Piastri revealed Max Verstappen apologised for the collision between the pair on the first lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver tried to pass Piastri on the inside of turn one immediately after the start, but made contact with the McLaren, knocking both he and his rival into a spin.

The stewards held Verstappen responsible for the collision, handing him a 10-second time penalty. Although Verstappen criticised the penalty on his radio and said he had been “super-unlucky” in the incident, Piastri revealed he received an apology from the Red Bull driver after the race.

“I looked in the mirror going into the corner and I felt I was pretty safe and clearly I wasn’t when I got to the apex,” he told the official F1 channel afterwards. “Max came in and apologised and I think the penalty speaks for itself, so there’s not much point dwelling on it.”

Piastri collected a penalty of his own soon afterwards when he ran into the back of Franco Colapinto after a Virtual Safety Car restart. “I finished the job off for myself with my incident with Franco,” he said. “I think we’re all ready for a break.”

Like Verstappen, Piastri received a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points on his licence. He is now on a total of four. The stewards ruled he “misjudged the cars in front, braked too late and ran into the back of car 43 [Colapinto] on the approach to turn six.”

Piastri recovered from his early incidents to claim the final point for 10th place. His plight caused alarm at McLaren as their constructors’ championship rivals Ferrari moved into second and third places behind Lando Norris. Had Norris suffered a failure, Ferrari would have been poised to clinch the championship.

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Norris’s victory ensured McLaren clinched the championship, ending their 26-year title drought. Piastri said that more than made up for his frustrating race.

“Obviously it was a tough night for myself, but I don’t think much of that matters at the moment. I’m very proud of the whole team to accomplish our main goal this season.

“When you look in the context as well of how we’ve been able to turn around our car and our seasons in the last 24 months, it’s pretty impressive. Let alone the fact that the last time we won a world championship as a team was 26 years ago, to do it from where we started last season is a massive sense of pride for everybody.”