Marko after Verstappen calling the stewards 'idiots': 'Wasn't diplomatic'

Helmut Marko believes Max Verstappen's punishment was too severe for the Turn 1 incident with Oscar Piastri. Red Bull's shared his thoughts about the Abu Dhabi GP to Sky Sports Germany.

Max Verstappen had a good a start at the Yas Marina Circuit, getting past Carlos Sainz already before the first corner, however, he made contact with Oscar Piastri into Turn 1. For that, he received a 10-second time penalty. Verstappen apologised to Piastri after the race.

Helmut Marko didn't think that a penalty would be given for that, he explained: "I think Piastri could have given a bit more space in the first corner. I thought 'let them race' at least applied [to that]."

The Red Bull advisor therefore believes handing out a 10-second penalty was too much. "Ten seconds is a heavy penalty, but we could not have matched McLaren's pace anyway. They were clearly faster. On the hard tyres we were about on the same level as Ferrari. It was not the end [of the season] we had imagined."

After serving his penalty, Verstappen was not too happy with the decision either. The Dutchman called the stewards "stupid idiots" over the team radio. Marko also responded to Verstappen's comments. "That was not very diplomatic," he said.

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