Guenther Steiner's intriguing take on Max Verstappen's first corner incident with Oscar Piastri in Saudi Arabia

Former F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has given an intriguing verdict on Max Verstappen's incident, as he questioned the term 'mitigating circumstances' used to reduce the penalty from 10 seconds to 5. The race in Saudi Arabia saw a surprise challenge from the Dutch driver as he secured pole position in his Red Bull.

The driver was lined up at the start alongside Oscar Piastri. Max Verstappen, unfortunately, did not have a great start, and the Australian was right alongside him as soon as the five red lights went out. It was at the first turn where things kicked off, as the Australian was first to the apex and would take the natural line.

Max Verstappen, on the other hand, would go off track and, in the process, miss a cut in the track and come out in the lead. The case went to the stewards, who decided that the Red Bull driver would be handed a 5-second penalty for going off track.

In general, the standard penalty for going off track and gaining an advantage is 10 seconds; however, the driver was only given a 5-second penalty because it was the start of the race.

This didn't sit right with Guenther Steiner. Talking about the Max Verstappen incident on the Red Flag Podcast, the former Haas team principal questioned the 'mitigating circumstances' used by the stewards. He said, via Racingnews365:

"Now we have mitigating circumstances. You're wrong or you're right in life. I have not seen a lot of things, they [the stewards] are not sure if it is right or wrong. So let's make it five seconds instead of 10. Let's give him a little bit of a discount here. I don't know, I wouldn't say, if you make an armed robbery without bullets in your gun, is that mitigating or not?"

Guenther Steiner called the Max Verstappen-Oscar Piastri moment a racing incident

Talking about the incident, the former Haas team principal admitted that he wouldn't have given any penalty to Max Verstappen for his moment with Oscar Piastri. Talking about how it was just a racing incident with the drivers playing games, he said:

"I wouldn't be okay. But then they would have made a clear message. Because for me, in my opinion, it was racing. Obviously, there is games played here, and that's part of racing. You try to keep your position, and you play with it."

He added:

"And I think Max was in front. How he played that, it worked for him. It was like, as they said, mitigating circumstances. It was the first lap. But you're racing. That is what racing is about. Should he go off and brake and let the other one by? No."

The Max Verstappen penalty has been a topic for discussion for many in the aftermath, with even his boss, Christian Horner, coming to his media debrief with screenshots printed out, trying to explain why the driver shouldn't have been penalized.