“I’m Not the One Who Makes the Rules Otherwise”: When Max Verstappen Was Frustrated With Sebastian Vettel Escaping Penalty in Japan

Max Verstappen is known for his aggressive racing and has often tried to pull out some incredible moves with his risks. But those plans with higher rewards sometimes hurt drastically.

Many times the Dutchman has been at the edge of crashing with drivers. He has been imposed with several penalties. Sometimes so late that he had to leave the cooling room after being stripped from a podium position.

However, the Dutchman doesn’t think he’s at fault every time. Obviously, there are other drivers too who have been reckless, but he once blamed a crash on Sebastian Vettel when the four-time world champion had over a decade-long experience in the sport.

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Max Verstappen claims Sebastian Vettel should have been penalized in Japan

After an early race restart in Japan, Vettel was challenging Verstappen when the two collided and went out of the track limits spinning. Though, no significant damage happened to either of the two cars.

But Vettel lost several positions and couldn’t believe what his Red Bull predecessor was doing. On the other hand, the Dutchman saw Vettel as entirely responsible for the hiccup.

“I’m not the one who makes the rules otherwise a lot of penalties would have been avoided in F1, but I think it is a similar scenario to what I had in China with him,” Verstappen said.

Verstappen’s China reference is when he was penalized for barging into Vettel’s Ferrari. For it, he was penalized, but in Japan, Vettel was spared by the officials.

Verstappen asked the legend to be careful

Verstappen wasn’t happy with Vettel’s approach to him in Japan. He even said that the four-time world champion could have been more careful with his driving.

Though, with the collision, Verstappen still managed to have a decent podium result in the race with P3. Meanwhile, Mercedes back then secured an impressive P1-2.

On the other hand, Vettel finished P6, which was even more heartbreaking for Vettel as Hamilton closed himself to his fifth title even more. Two Grand Prix later, Hamilton overtook the German in the title count, and after that, he never came close to title contention.

Also read: Lewis Hamilton Reveals to George Russell His Most Memorable Fan Experience

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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