Johnny Herbert blasts Christian Horner for backing Max Verstappen after his 5-second penalty in Jeddah

Former F1 driver and pundit Johnny Herbert criticized Red Bull team principal Christian Horner for defending Max Verstappen after his five-second penalty in Jeddah last weekend. The Dutch driver started the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from pole position, ahead of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri.

However, he had a slightly slower getaway from the grid box compared to the Aussie driver, which put both drivers level heading into Turn 1. Piastri, on the inside, came out of the corner behind Verstappen, who cut the chicane to maintain his position.

While the four-time F1 world champion was adamant that the 24-year-old did not leave him on the apex, the stewards did not agree and gave him a five-second penalty. The discretion proved to be costly as Max Verstappen finished 2.8s behind Oscar Piastri and finished in P2 after serving a penalty in the pit stop.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was adamant that his charge did not do anything wrong and even produced prints to the media as evidence of his innocence. Speaking with Beste Online Casino Nederland, Herbert blasted Horner for defending Verstappen and said:

“The people arguing against it have probably never been in a race car, and definitely not in an F1 car, so they have zero understanding. I’ll include Christian Horner in this, too. I know he’s the team principal and he’s trying to do what’s best for Red Bull, but sometimes you have to just admit you’re wrong and give the place back."

“Horner then came up with the picture of evidence to show who was in front in Turn 1, which was a load of baloney, but to me, it was passing the buck to the FIA and the stewards. It’s wrong, it shouldn’t be like that. Red Bull had a chance to give the place back but they chose not to.”

Max Verstappen lost the chance to overtake Lando Norris in the standings due to his penalty and is currently two points behind the latter in P3.

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Red Bull team boss gives his take on Max Verstappen's penalty

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner stated that Max Verstappen's actions in his wheel-to-wheel battle with Oscar Piastri that earned him a penalty was a "marginal call" and did not deserve the punishment.

Speaking with PlanetF1 after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the 51-year-old reflected:

“Everything has to be objectively looked at in isolation, and that’s a really marginal call. I think the stewards, obviously… we spoke to them after the race, they think it was a slam dunk. We’ll ask them to have a look at the onboard footage that wasn’t available at the time."

Notably, Max Verstappen was fuming after the race and refused to comment on the subject.