"JOEL EMBIID for the 3 from deep": F1 fans react as NBA superstar makes his feelings known about Max Verstappen's penalty

F1 fans gave their reactions to NBA superstar Joel Embiid claiming that FIA 'hated' the Red Bull driver and three-time world champion Max Verstappen after the latter was given a 5-second penalty for a VSC infringement. The Dutch driver has had his run-ins with the sport's governing body over the last couple of weekends, given his controversial moves against his championship rival Lando Norris in both Austin and Mexico.

The 27-year-old has made his feelings clear about the FIA and the race stewards in his interactions with the media during the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend. He once again visited the stewards's office in Sao Paulo after being investigated for a VSC infringement during the Sprint race on Saturday.

In his eagerness to take P2 from McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen breached the required delta time by 0.6 seconds and was found guilty of breaching the regulations and demoted to P4 after a five-second penalty.

The Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid took to his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter) on November 2 to give his views on the penalty and wrote:

"The FIA really hates Max lmao.. they allowed McLaren to switch positions before they dropped the VSC," Embiid wrote.

F1 fans on social media seemingly agreed with Joel Embiid's comments regarding Max Verstappen's penalty, with one fan writing:

"JOEL EMBIID for the 3 from deep."

"Absolutely man. That was ridiculous," another fan added.

Here are some more fan reactions voicing their approval of Embiid's opinion on Verstappen's penalty:

"Indeed Joel. It was even worse today. They waited with the red flag so Max was out of the top 10 and couldn’t qualify anymore for Q2," a user claimed.

"Exactly. Corrupt business F1. FIA bias is obvious in many ways. F.e. they punish Max for using the f-word at a press conference and Charles gets away with it. Typical," a fan said.

"It's pretty obvious what they are doing. F1 and the FIA want an extremely close championship fight so they can make more money," another claimed.

---

FIA comment on Max Verstappen's penalty during the Sprint race

FIA stated that Max Verstappen breached the required delta time by the slimmest of margins and was demoted back to P4 after starting the race from the same grid slot for the Sprint race.

As per F1.com, the sport's governing body explained:

"The driver was 0.63 seconds below the minimum time at VSC End when the FIA light panels changed to green. This indicates a sporting advantage gained under VSC. The driver explained that as he was awaiting VSC to end and he got the notification that he was below the minimum time, he attempted to correct the error but failed to do so by the point that the panels turned green."

Max Verstappen lost three points from the championship lead after Lando Norris finished the Sprint in P1.