Whting to have "a little chat" with Verstappen

It may be an understatement to say Max Verstappen was not very happy with the penalty he was given during Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix, accusing the race stewards of “killing racing”.

Verstappen was hit with a five second penalty after defending his position a little too aggressively against Valtteri Bottas as the Finn was trying to overtake at turn one.

The Dutchman has a reputation for defending his position with hostility and giving little room for other drivers. This has led to him receiving numerous warnings and crashes in his short but exciting F1 career so far.

Verstappen impressively managed to keep Bottas behind him for the rest of the race to finish P3 on track, but he was relegated to fifth due to the penalty, slipping behind Bottas and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

Verstappen does have previous when it comes to speaking out about the stewards, but F1’s race director Charlie Whiting says that he will not punish Verstappen for his comments.

Whiting told Autosport: “I don’t think you can take too much notice of comments made in the heat of battle, but I’m sure at the next drivers’ briefing we’ll have a little chat about that.

“As I say in the heat of battle, that’s absolutely expected.”

We would love to listen in on this “little chat”, but one thing for sure is we don’t expect it to chance Max’s combative style!