Outside Line: Brown vs Horner. Taking sides on Verstappen penalty
F1 NewsTuesday, 22 April 2025 at 08:00
It took only the drag race to Turn 1 of the Saudi Grand Prix at Jeddah Corniche Circuit for controversy to erupt, as Oscar Piastri edged ahead into the corner while pole-sitter Max Verstappen, denied that first apex by the McLaren, decided to cut the next corner.
Boom! From the moment the replay from Piastri’s onboard was shown, it was obvious Verstappen had been naughty. He should’ve tucked in behind the McLaren—he was beaten to Turn 1 fair and square by the fast-starting Aussie. That Max eventually got a penalty was because the FIA and Red Bull were caught napping. But before we get to that, I set the stage for the Horner vs Brown verdict.
After the Saudi GP - marred by that first-corner incident - the FIA F1 Stewards justified the Verstappen penalty: “The Stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry and in-car video evidence and determined that Car 81 [Piastri] had its front axle at least alongside the mirror of Car 1 [Verstappen] prior to and at the apex of corner 1 when trying to overtake Car 1 on the inside.
“In fact, Car 81 was alongside Car 1 at the apex. Based on the Driver’s Standards Guidelines, it was therefore Car 81’s corner, and he was entitled to be given room. Car 1 then left the track and gained a lasting advantage that was not given back. He stayed in front of Car 81 and sought to build on the advantage.
“Ordinarily, the baseline penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage is 10 seconds. However, given that this was a lap one, turn one incident, we considered that to be a mitigating circumstance and imposed a 5-second time penalty instead,” the directive concluded.
Brown: I definitely thought a penalty was deserved
Reacting to the Stewards’ decision, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown told Sky Sports F1: “I definitely thought a penalty was deserved. Oscar was clearly up the inside, got a better start, and you know, you need to use the race track.
"Whether it’s a five-second penalty or give the position back, I think it could go either way. I thought it was definitely appropriate. It was Oscar’s corner, and at some point you’ve got to concede," reckoned Brown, whose McLaren team now top the Drivers' and Constructors' standings after Round 5.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner countered: “We had that sort of discussion with the race director, obviously before the race through briefings and whatever else. We have this notion of let them race. I don’t know where Max was supposed to go at that first corner.
"We’ve lost the race by 2.6 seconds, so it’s tough. I think the most positive thing for us today is that the pace was there. It was a very positive race. Congrats to Oscar, but disappointed not to get the win," lamented Horner.
FIA Stewards and Red Bull caught napping in Jeddah
Zak was right. Christian was wrong, and his Red Bull team to blame. And the FIA Of course. Here's why.
The moment Verstappen cut the track, it looked dodgy. Seconds later, Piastri’s onboard clearly showed the McLaren reaching the Turn 1 apex well ahead of the Red Bull, which ended up running so wide it was never going to make the corner.
Piastri ran deep too, but he made the next turn and was entitled to the line he took, as the lead was his when it mattered. From that moment on, the replay—probably a minute into what had become a Safety Car-led race as broken bits of Alpine and Red Bull were cleared following Yuki Tsunoda’s contact with Pierre Gasly—made it plain.
Referencing the timeline below, race control and its Director had eight minutes to call the Red Bull pit wall and instruct Max to cede the position. Charlie Whiting would've done that, I am sure. But they didn’t. And then, in the tenth minute post-incident, they issued the penalty!
Why not do another lap under the Safety Car to resolve the issue on track, fairly? Unless I’m grossly mistaken, something smells fishy. If I’m wrong, educate me—FIA, Race Director, whoever.
Sky F1 timeline below shows an eight-minute period for Stewards and Red Bull to not destroy Max's race, and the inexplicable speed at which they implemented the penalty after the restart.
- 19:04 – Safety Car deployed
- 19:07 – Piastri radios to the world, FIA Stewards included: "He needs to give that back. I was ahead."
- 19:11 – Stewards investigating Piastri-Verstappen incident
- 19:12 – Restart
- 19:13 – Stewards confirm 5-second penalty for Verstappen
Horner is wrong, but did the right thing by backing his boy
Horner crying foul was classic Spice Boy (remember the Toto Wolff episodes?) sticking up for Maximus with the tried “Where was he supposed to go?” excuse, when he knew full well that Verstappen tucking in behind Piastri would’ve won them the Oscar.
While Horner and RBR all rallied around their #1 driver, blinded to the obvious infraction, a level head watching what we all saw should've been saying: “Tell Max to swap under the Safety Car, rather than risk a penalty.”
What made matters worse is that Horner revealed they didn't cede the position as they believed Max did nothing wrong!
He told the media after the race: “We didn’t concede the position because we didn’t believe that he’d done anything wrong."
But it was painfully obvious a penalty was coming. A swap required. They dropped the ball. That five-second penalty (some might say they’re lucky it wasn’t more) cost them the race. Emerging three seconds behind the leader after serving the time meant game over.
Even superhuman Verstappen couldn’t claw it back. And Piastri, to his credit, was not hanging about and switched on to every Max attack, no matter how covert or overt. The McLaren lad had all moves covered on the night.
But don’t blame it on Max at all
Don’t expect Verstappen to be contrite or submissive at the hottest point of his race, aka the start. Turn 1. The Red Bull pit wall engineers didn’t have their driver’s back on this one. If they’d been alert, sharp and authoritative - like they have been for decades but not so of late - they would’ve told Max to give the false P1 back.
Then, from P2, under Piastri’s wing, Verstappen, a master of restarts from whatever position, from P2 might’ve won the drag race to Turn 1 on the second try, or at the very least made it far tougher for the winner in Jeddah. But Red Bull were caught napping on this shift.
Why am I going down the could’ve, would’ve, might’ve route? Because Horner is trying too hard to play the 'feel-sorry-for-us' card and casting stones from a glasshouse, while distrcating from his team's shortcomings in Jeddah today.
That can’t go unnoted at this stage of the Formula 1 narrative, while we try to make sense of all the blame being flung around after another enthralling Grand Prix. On this occasion, a reality check is in order for Red Bull.
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