"You're just questioning the integrity of the stewards at this point": Fans react to Max Verstappen hinting bias from the FIA stewards against him

Fans countered Max Verstappen as he claimed that a potential penalty on him would have been investigated immediately contradictory to what happened with Lando Norris during the F1 Qatar GP. The Dutchman informed his team that the McLaren behind him had not lifted during the double-yellow flags on the main straight.

After Red Bull Racing confirmed the same, they reported it to the stewards. Norris, who was running P2, was given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty, that dropped him to the back of the grid owing to the time loss. Although he managed to get back up to P10 and scored two points with the fastest lap, the team suffered a great loss in the championship battle with Ferrari.

Speaking about the incident during a post-race press conference, Max Verstappen said that he lifted off the throttle on the straight after seeing the double-yellow flags. He further claimed that if he hadn't done that, the stewards would have investigated it 'straight away'.

"I knew that I lifted because I saw the double yellow. And I know that, of course, if I wouldn’t have lifted, it would have been investigated straight away," Max Verstappen told the media including Sportskeeda.

"So you’re just on it. I asked if he lifted because he had a DRS, I think, from a backmarker at the same time as well. And then, of course, when we came out of Turn 1, I saw that he was a lot closer, so I just asked the team to check it. It was just a normal question. And I know, of course, with double yellows, they’re quite strict."

Fans on social media, however, disagreed with him. This comment mentioned that the Red Bull driver questioned the stewards' integrity:

"Going wayyy too far with it honestly. You're just questioning the integrity of the stewards at this point."

"How can he constantly play the victim? He doesn't get penalised for half the incidents he's actually involved in," a user claimed.

"Max Verstappen gets some penalties this year that are absolutely deserved, and now he acts like he's always been punished. Absolutely ridiculous," another user mentioned.

However, some of the comments also agreed with Max Verstappen.

"Facts 💯. If he said nothing, the Lando pen would have never happened," a fan claimed.

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McLaren at a loss of "any sense of proportion" for Max Verstappen-reported penalty on Lando Norris

The double yellow flags were waved down on turn 1 after Alex Albon's side mirror broke apart and fell in the middle of the track, where drivers were going at speeds around 200 mph. Max Verstappen was leading the race at the time and Lando Norris was in pursuit of P1.

The penalty put McLaren in a compromising position as Ferrari gained more points in the race and the Constructors' Championship battle moved to the final race in Abu Dhabi.

While the team accepts that Norris did not lift when he was supposed to, team principal Andrea Stella mentioned that the team was at a loss of "any sense of proportion" regarding the penalty.

"I think in the application of the penalty, I think we have lost any sense of proportion and any sense of specificity," he told Sky Sports F1.

"Can we look specifically at the infringement, at the level of danger associated to the situation and in fact the yellow flag was removed, and then judge using these kinds of elements – proportion and specificity – rather than taking a look at any kind of rulebook probably full of dust on top of it, and then apply it without any sense of critical approach?"

A 10-second stop-and-go in Qatar meant a loss of over 30 seconds of race time when calculated along with the time lost in the pitlane. McLaren needed a 21-point gap over Ferrari in the race to be crowned the Constructors' Champions, but Norris' P10 finish shortened the gap between the rivals. The battle for the title will continue at Yas Marina Circuit this week.