Verstappen blames Piastri for crash but unhappy with 10s penalty at Abu Dhabi GP

max verstappen apologized to oscar piastri after killing him mclaren The car in Turn 1 of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – but questioned the current penalty procedure in Formula 1.

The 2024 world champion tried to get on the inside of Piastri at the start of the season finale but collided with the Australian, resulting in him falling back.

This could have had a huge impact on the Constructors’ Championship, but ultimately, McLaren ended their 26-year wait for a teams’ title. lando norris Won and Piastri moved up to 10th place.

Verstappen said on team radio that the incident was “unfortunate”, but revealed that he had apologized to Piastri after the race.

“My launch was good and then I tried to catch the inside and I realized right away, once I committed to it, the gap was closing and I wanted to try and get out of it, because I naturally didn’t want, of course, to have an accident with the Oscars,” he said.

“But unfortunately, we still clipped each other, but I apologized to Oscar in advance, this is not what you want, and especially not with him. He is a great person but this happened, and it is a bit unfortunate.

“The thing was I think when you’re in that situation, you’re focused on the car in front…you’re committed. When you first or second start, you never really look back.

“So I went for it, and then I realized, ‘Crap, he doesn’t see me there.’ So I was trying to get out of it, but we still broke up.

Verstappen also branded the stewards an “idiot” via team radio for handing out a 10-second penalty for the collision.

He continued to question the decision when asked about it after the race, where he ultimately finished sixth.

“Of course, it’s on me,” he continued, “but I was hoping for maybe 20 seconds, 30 seconds, I don’t know, wait and go! So maybe there’s something to talk about next time.

“I don’t understand anything now, but whatever, everything is fine. I’m not going to get angry over things like that.

“It’s not worth my time and yes, just take a break. Like I said, the most important thing is I apologize to Oscar and that’s it.”

Despite a race to forget for the Australian, Piastri was happy to at least be able to celebrate constructors’ success with McLaren.

When asked by Sky Sports whether Verstappen’s overtaking attempt was too optimistic, Piastri said: “Probably yes, but he came and immediately apologised.

“The stewards understood that there is a penalty, so we will go again next year, from then on it was a tough race but again, we achieved our main goal today and that is what matters.

“It was a very disappointing race for me, but I think, undoubtedly, the biggest thing today is that we won the championship.

“It’s a huge credit to everyone and McLaren for what they have achieved this year and I couldn’t be more proud of them all.”