Verstappen understands FIA penalty: 'That looks really silly'

Fernando Alonso lost his podium spot and got it back te same evening in a strange situation after the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. The FIA can count on the support of Max Verstappen for at least one penalty race control handed out to Alonso.

Indeed, Alonso's race started with a five-second time penalty for mispositioning his Aston Martin on P2 on the starting grid. Alonso was next to the starting grid. It is not clear whether the Spaniard took advantage of it, but according to the regulations, it carries a time penalty.

Verstappen shows understanding for first penalty Alonso

George Russell briefly took over Alonso's podium spot and spoke to Verstappen and Sergio Perez at the press conference about the starting procedure. According to Russell, Alonso's five-second penalty at the start was already too harsh. Verstappen seems to see it slightly differently. Verstappen: "It's painful when this happens, but it's the same with the white line for track limits." Verstappen says the rules, are the rules. Crossing track limits during an F1 session does not necessarily always result in an advantage either, but the rules still need to be enforced.

Verstappen: "Sometimes you argue: did you gain anything going wide or not, going outside of it? I think at one point we do need a rule. It looks really silly if people start to take advantage of going really left and right." What the three at the press conference did agree on is that it is not easy to get the positioning right. In fact, visibility from the cockpit is very poor. All three drivers say they sometimes cannot see the tarmac in front of them. A mistake on the approach is then easily made. Nevertheless, nine times out of ten this goes well.