Harsher penalty requested for Verstappen: 'Drive-through would have been appropriate'

Gian Carlo Minardi believes the penalty Max Verstappen received at the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.

To begin with, the Italian praised the defending world champion for his lap in qualifying.

"Always present is Verstappen, the author of an extraordinary pole position after the difficult weekend in Bahrain," the Italian wrote on his website.

However on the Sunday, Oscar Piastri got off to a better start in Jeddah, and was already down the inside of the Dutchman into Turn 1. In order to keep his lead, Verstappen cut the corner, for which he received a five-second penalty for. Due to mitigating circumstances, it wasn't a ten-second penalty,

Minardi in favour of tougher penalty for Verstappen

There has been much discussion about the incident afterwards. Some believe, including Red Bull top advisor Helmut Marko, that Verstappen shouldn't have been penalised. Minardi belongs to the group that calls for a harsher penalty.

"However, I do not agree with the penalty. I believe that 5 seconds are too few considering the advantage obtained by his action and also because they came at the start of the race," he writes.

What would have been the suitable decision by the stewards according to the Italian? "He had plenty of time to recover, crossing the finish line in second place, little more than two seconds from the Australian. A drive-through would have been more consistent."

This article was written in collaboration with Kimberley Hoefnagel

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