Max Verstappen made headlines for all the wrong reasons last weekend at the Singapore Grand Prix. The biggest headline among all was his failure to clinch a podium after having won a record 10 races in a row heading into the weekend. However, there were also other headlines that the Dutchman grabbed because of his antics during the weekend. Since the 25-year-old was involved in several incidents, the FIA had their work cut out. The FIA eventually decided not to punish Verstappen for any of the incidents, a decision that many believed was unfair. Since many raised concerns with the FIA’s decision, the motorsport governing body has now accepted their mistake after a review.
The FIA have now accepted their mistake after Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc headed the group of drivers who explained how Verstappen not receiving penalties for his incident would set a bad precedent in the sport. During his press conference, the Briton without any hesitation stated, “I think the blocking one on track was the one that should’ve been a penalty“.
After stating the same, Norris explained how the issue of impeding is not just a mistake of the team for not informing their drivers. He believes that drivers also need to take responsibility to look into their mirrors. On similar lines, Leclerc added, “I was a bit surprised, especially the one in the pitlane because that could open quite a bad situation in the future“.
FIA accept blame for their poor decision
According to motorsport.com, the FIA has admitted to the F1 teams that Max Verstappen should have received the standard grid penalty for at least one of his various incidents. The Dutchman was involved in three separate incidents. He was being investigated for two impeding incidents and another in the pitlane.
The report from motorsport.com reveals that the FIA believe that the 25-year-old should have received one three-place penalty for one of his two impeding incidents. The same would have dropped the Red Bull driver from 11th to 14th on the grid.
A tough weekend in Singapore, but a solid recovery during the race today @redbullracing 👊
Onto Suzuka 🇯🇵👋 pic.twitter.com/G9gnHyZXAi
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) September 17, 2023
Verstappen himself seemed surprised after he did not receive any penalties for his various incidents. The Dutchman believes that he should have perhaps at least received a penalty for impeding Tsunoda.
Max Verstappen expresses his surprise after escaping punishment
Since the various incidents involving Max Verstappen have been a hot topic ever since last weekend, the Dutchman also had to answer some pressing questions. When asked if he believes he was lucky to escape punishment, the 25-year-old made a reference to the incident involving Yuki Tsunoda and stated (as quoted by motorsport.com), “Yeah, that was not good“.
He then added, “I didn’t see him because I was on the radio talking about what was the problem. And then I didn’t get a call-up until he was basically behind me. It basically sums up my qualifying. It was just super hectic and messy“.
After a poor weekend at Singapore, Verstappen will now look to put the past behind him and aim for a strong result in Japan this weekend. Normal service has resumed so far as the 25-year-old topped both practice sessions on Friday.
He will now hope to carry forward this same form over to the next two days with the hope of clinching his 13th victory of the season. If Verstappen does manage to win, he will also help Red Bull clinch their 15th victory this season out of the 16 races that would have taken place after this weekend.
