Martin Brundle gives his verdict on Red Bull's handling of the Max Verstappen penalty

Martin Brundle has shared his thoughts on Red Bull's handling of the Max Verstappen penalty at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend. The Red Bull driver had an incident with Oscar Piastri on the first lap of the race at the very first corner of the Jeddah circuit. Verstappen was given a five-second time penalty by the stewards, which ultimately led to Piastri winning the race.

"I understand they are hardwired to be so ultra-competitive, along with endlessly being convinced that they are right and everybody else is wrong. That is why they dominated for so many seasons, but they did not read this one properly and lost out," Brundle said via SkySports F1.

Piastri at second had a better launch at the start compared to Verstappen, which put him alongside Verstappen on the very first corner of the race. The Dutchman had to take the run-off area and not complete the corner as he felt that Piastri left him nowhere to go. Verstappen received the penalty due to this incident.

The British former F1 driver, Brundle expressed that if the team had immediately asked Verstappen to give back the position to Piastri, the Dutch driver may have won the race.

"I thought it was very harsh, We didn't concede the position because we didn't believe that he'd done anything wrong. You can quite clearly see at the apex of the corner that Max is clearly ahead. The rules of engagement were discussed previously, and it was a very harsh decision," Red Bull boss Christian Horner told the media (via Motorsport).

Horner and Max Verstappen both disagreed and seemed discontent with the decision made by the stewards, which ultimately decided the outcome of the race.

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Max Verstappen refuses to engage in discussions about the penalty at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen refused to discuss his unhappiness with the stewards for the time penalty he received at Jeddah. The five-second time penalty eventually cost him the race.

Max Verstappen and the FIA president at F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2025 - Source: Getty

"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," Max Verstappen said after the race (via BBC).

The comments are with reference to a change in FIA's rule book that codified a series of penalties for drivers who repeatedly swear or criticise the governing body. These changes were introduced after drivers' swearing in press conferences last year led to several controversial penalties.

These changes were introduced under the current FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and can lead to a one-month ban plus a deduction in championship points.