Max Verstappen said he could not share his true feelings after being penalised during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as “people can’t handle the truth”.
Pole-sitter Verstappen was handed a five-second penalty for cutting the corner at turn one to stay ahead of Oscar Piastri, allowing the McLaren man to jump in front at the pit stops and he never looked back.
Australian Piastri made it back-to-back wins and three for the season to take the championship lead and move 10 points ahead of team-mate Lando Norris at the top of the standings, with Verstappen two points further back.
Charles Leclerc was third for Ferrari ahead of Norris in fourth.
P1ASTRI AGAIN! 🏆@OscarPiastri secures our first-ever win in Saudi Arabia 🧡#McLaren | #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/IfmkWbNGgD
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) April 20, 2025
Four-time world champion Verstappen said on the radio that Piastri “forced me off” and made it clear after the race that he did not agree with the decision.
“The problem is that I can’t share my opinion of it because I may get penalised, so it is better not to talk about it,” Verstappen said.
“It happened very fast. I don’t want to say anything about it because anything I say may get me into trouble.
“It has to do with social media in general and the way the world is. I’d prefer not to talk. Sometimes your words can be twisted or interpreted in a different way.
“You can’t share your opinions because it’s not appreciated as it used to be. People can’t handle the truth.
“For me it is better if I don’t have to say too much because it saves me time.
“I know I cannot swear in here and at the same time you cannot be critical.”
Verstappen emerged, after serving his penalty, three seconds adrift of Piastri and was unable to close the gap.
Piastri, inevitably, had a different view of the incident, saying: “I know I had to brake late but I knew I had enough of my car in front to take the first corner.
“I braked as late as I could stay on the track. The way it was dealt with was the right thing.”
Good drive @OscarPiastri 🤝!#F1 || #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/J5K6EPDtw8
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) April 20, 2025
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner arrived for his media duties with printouts which he believed showed why Verstappen should not have been penalised.
“You can clearly see that at the apex of the corner, we believe that Max is clearly ahead,” Horner said.
“Without that five-second penalty today it would have been a win.
“When you look at that, I can’t see how they got to that conclusion. Oscar has run deep into the corner, Max can’t just disappear at that moment in time.
“I don’t know what happened to ‘let them race’. That seems to have been abandoned.”
Piastri controlled the race to move into the championship lead for the first time in his career – the first Australian to do so since Mark Webber in 2010.
Norris battled back from 10th, having crashed out during his first run in final qualifying on Saturday, to finish fourth but surrendered his title lead.
“I am not bothered that I am leading the world championship but I am proud of the hard work we have done to get here,” Piastri said.
“I want to be leading the championship after round 24, not round five.”
