Palmer blames Verstappen's 'penalty or glory' approach: 'Just like 2021 with Hamilton'

17:00, 23 Apr

byNorberto Mujica

At Red Bull Racing, everyone was convinced that the penalty Max Verstappen received in Saudi Arabia was unjust. Former Formula 1 driver Jolyon Palmer, in his analysis for F1 TV, came to a different conclusion. The Brit also criticized the Red Bull Racing driver.

Palmer on Verstappen's penalty

The former Renault driver mentioned that things looked bad for Verstappen and that attempting a pass would not end well: “But Max is never one to give up a corner, so he tries once again. Sweeps to the outside line, Oscar right up the inside, cleanly done. They get through the apex, they're pretty much absolutely together.”

Then came the point in which Piastri, according to Palmer, who adheres to the FIA regulations, had the corner: “He [Piastri] needs to get his front wheels alongside the mirrors to be significantly up the inside, to be able to use the road on the exit. He is clearly there. And this is going to be a forlorn attempt from Verstappen to try and keep the place. And sure enough, through they go. Oscar keeps his car on the road. Max does not. And Max keeps the place. So that is why there's a penalty incoming for Verstappen.”

Criticism of Verstappen after 'another incident'

Later in his analysis, Palmer compared the incident with the one between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at the first restart in 2021, the season where the Dutchman's and the Briton's epic title battle took place.

According to the analyst, the Dutchman also broke the regulations then, prompting a deal to be offered to him: take a penalty, or start behind Hamilton and Esteban Ocon during the second restart.

“Nonetheless, it's another incident of Verstappen taking the place, having track position and basically calling the stewards to make a decision whether to penalise him or not."

"But actually, as a fan of the sport, what we want to see here is we want to see hard racing, we want to see fair racing and we want to see overtaking moves for key positions being made on the track rather than in the stewards room later on and then some complaints about it, which we're seeing a little bit too often with Max, in my opinion.”