Red Bull former famed troubleshooter makes his feelings known on how he would have handled Max Verstappen's incident with Oscar Piastri
Max Verstappen has a history of running wide at turn 1 in Saudi Arabia, and former Red Bull man, turned Sauber team principal, Jonathan Wheatley, revealed how he would have handled the saga between the Dutchman and Oscar Piastri. The Briton famously delegated for the 27-year-old at the inaugural race in Saudi Arabia for Verstappen and revealed how he would have taken things differently.
The reigning world champion started the race on pole after outqualifying Piastri by one-hundredth of a second. With such a minimal margin and races often being won at turn 1 this year, the Aussie driver knew he had to do something.
The 24-year-old had a lightning-fast start at the five green lights and got his car ahead of the apex at turn 1. However, Max Verstappen ran wide at turn 1, claiming the move as a forced mistake, because of Oscar Piastri not leaving a car's width on the outside of the corner.
Stewards had none of Red Bull's arguments and deemed the Dutchman at fault and penalized him with a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage off the track. But, when asked about how Whetley would have dealt with the whole frenzy, the former Red Bull troubleshooter suggested how he would have handled things differently in allowing Verstappen to have the best chance going forward in the race.
The Briton did not mention the exact path he would have gone down, but said (via The Race):
"Oh I know what my thoughts were... I would have done something different, or advised to do something differently."
Verstappen and Red Bull were not happy with how the FIA viewed the whole sequence of events.
Max Verstappen remained tight-lipped in his verdict on the five-second penalty
Max Verstappen had initially cut short his post-race interview, seemingly in protest of how the FIA had dealt with the situation. Losing the race by a minimal 2.8 seconds would have suggested that the Dutchman would have won his second race of the season had he not received the five-second penalty.
Discontent with the way the governing body was employing the rules surrounding the driving code, Verstappen remained tight-lipped in the post-race press conference, and said (via BBC):
"You can't share your opinion because it's not appreciated apparently, or people can't handle the full truth. Honestly, it's better if I don't say too much. It's honestly just how everything is becoming. Everyone is super-sensitive about everything. And what we have (in the rules) currently, we cannot be critical anyway. So less talking – even better for me."
Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri's win helped him take over the championship lead from Lando Norris. The Australian now heads the table with Norris and Verstappen following him in close proximity.