Whiting says Verstappen ‘clearly’ deserved a penalty for Raikkonen clash

Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting has no doubts that Max Verstappen ‘clearly’ deserved a penalty for his first-lap incident with Kimi Raikkonen in the Japanese Grand Prix.

Verstappen felt it was a ‘bit stupid’ that he received a fivesecond penalty for rejoining the track in an unsafe manner after he ran off the road at the chicane and pushed Raikkonen wide. But Whiting thinks there can be no doubt that the Red Bull driver deserved punishment for the way he came back on the circuit.

“It was quite clearly a penalty because Max went off the track and rejoined the track unsafely,” explained Whiting. “You are required to rejoin safely and Kimi was there and pushed him off the track. So I think that was a fairly straightforward one for the stewards.”

Whiting believed that the later Verstappen incident with Vettel, when they clashed at Spoon Curve in the fight for position, could not be blamed on either driver.

“Seb tried to get up the inside, and it was a reasonable move,” added Whiting. “He got halfway alongside and Max turned in – a bit of a classic really.

“Stewards don’t normally give penalties unless they are sure that one driver was wholly or predominantly to blame.

“Opinions will vary on whether there was equal blame, but certainly no driver was predominantly to blame they felt.”

Verstappen, however, said: “In that corner you cannot overtake. I even gave him space. But he understeered into my car.”

Vettel, though, put the blame squarely on the Red Bull driver.

“The gap was there but as soon as he saw me obviously he defended,” Vettel said. “But I had the inside. As soon as he realises somebody is close or next to him, he tries to – in my opinion – push when you shouldn’t push anymore.”