Sky Sports F1 pundit and co-commentator Martin Brundle believes that Max Verstappen’s decision to cut the opening sequence of corners at the Mexican Grand Prix warranted a drive-through penalty. The Dutchman agitated some of his rivals by driving over the grass at Turn One.
The opening sequence of corners at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez is a series of 90-degree turns that often trigger chaos on the racetrack. On the approach to Turn One at the start of last weekend’s race, Verstappen attempted to make it four-wide on the outside and ran out of space on the approach to the corner.
Instead of backing out, the Dutchman attempted to hang it out around the outside of Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, before scampering over the grass and re-emerging on the circuit on the straight running down to Turn Four.
He handed one spot back to Hamilton at that point, but the stewards opted not to penalise the four-time world champion for cutting three corners out of the lap. This agitated the likes of Fernando Alonso and George Russell, who criticised the FIA for their inaction on Sunday.
“Max should have had a penalty, because if you put your car on the far left in four abreast, it will go on the kerb,” Brundle explained on the F1 Show. “But Max had no intention. You can see Max accelerate.
“Really skilful driving through the grass, I must say. But Max made no effort whatsoever to take turns one, two or three, and that should have been a penalty. Max took the risk on the outside, knowing full well he could just bury the throttle and carry on.
“The sort of thing if the fireproof boot had been on the other foot, Max would have been screaming about on the radio, saying he had no intention of making that corner. He didn’t. I might even have given somebody doing what Max did, a drive-through, as a proper deterrent to stop the silliness, because then it all gets chaotic.
“I completely can understand those drivers that were minding their business, actually staying on the racetrack, going like, ‘Well, hang on, I’m losing out here. I might as well have just made my own race track up in the first few corners and gain some places.’”
Verstappen’s crafty moves paid off. The Dutchman managed to stay ahead of George Russell as a result of his Turn One off-roading, and he later snatched back positions from Hamilton and Oliver Bearman, finishing third in Mexico City. He now travels to Brazil, 36 points behind the lead in the World Championship.
