Verstappen mum on clash with Piastri: ‘Just a waste of time’

Max Verstappen continued to evade questions about his first-lap incident at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, calling any discussions about the matter a "waste of time".

The Dutchman went all-in on Saturday to place his Red Bull RB21 on pole position around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, setting a new lap record around the fast and twisty street track.

However, Verstappen's lead became immediately under threat into the first corner on the opening lap of the Grand Prix, as Oscar Piastri got his McLaren alongside in the run up to the first corner.

The defending champion managed to retain first position, but did so by cutting the second corner.

Because he was marginally behind Piastri before the Turn 1 apex, race stewards deemed this a violation of the regulations and handed Verstappen a five-second penalty.

'Not My Problem'

Verstappen served the penalty during his pitstop, and subsequently relinquished the lead of the Grand Prix to Piastri. While the Red Bull driver was able to remain within a few seconds of the McLaren, he ultimately had to settle for P2.

Speaking after the race to former F1 driver David Coulthard during his post-race interview, Verstappen was not in the mood to talk about the lap one incident. He said: "I'm going to keep it short.

"A big thank you to the fans here in Jeddah. It's been a great weekend. I love the track. The rest, it is what it is. I'm looking forward to Miami, so I will see you there."

©RedBull

Sky Sports F1 later tried to press Verstappen for his opinion on the five-second penalty, but the four-time World Champion refused to budge.

"To be honest, I think any words towards that, is just a waste of time for everyone," he reiterated.

Referring to a similar incident between himself  and Norris at the United States Grand Prix in 2024, where Norris was penalised for going off the track and retaining his position, Verstappen retorted by claiming that the rules have changed for this season.

"We talked about it a lot, and last year, this year, are different kind of rules, so that’s also not the problem. But honestly, this is also not my problem, to be honest."

• Read Also: Piastri: 'I wasn't coming out of Turn 1 in 2nd'

Verstappen chose to look to the positives after finishing on the podium yet again in his 2025 campaign. He continued: "I think the positive is that we had quite decent pace in the race.

"I was much happier on that medium as well, because honestly, I didn’t expect that pace in the car, but it did show that the changes we made to the car from Friday to Saturday definitely helped a lot on tyre wear as well," concluded Verstappen.

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