Max Verstappen reacts to double Mexico penalty: “I’m not going to give up easily”

Max Verstappen says the “biggest problem” for Red Bull in Mexico was their lack of race pace, not his two 10-second time penalties.

Verstappen was hit with 20 seconds worth of penalties after two incidents with Lando Norris during the opening part of the race.

The first penalty was due to pushing Norris off at Turn 4 after the McLaren driver attempted a bold overtake.

The second happened shortly after into Turn 7 as Verstappen attempted an aggressive divebomb.

The two penalties dropped Verstappen down to 15th before recovering to finish sixth.

Reflecting on the two incidents with Norris, Verstappen told Sky Sports: “I mean the problem is when you’re slower you’re being put in those kind of positions.

“I am not going to give up easily. At the end of the day, it’s not about agreeing or disagreeing about the penalty.

“The only thing is that 20 seconds is quite a lot. The biggest problem of today and that is also what I worry about is the race pace. It was really not good - something that we need to analyse.

“Even without them penalties, we had no chance at all to fight.”

Verstappen sits 47 points ahead of Norris with four rounds to go.

The concern for Verstappen will be is that Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was closing in on him in the final handful of laps.

Despite his lead in the championship closing by 10 points, Verstappen insists he’s “not worried”.

“I am not worried,” he added. “This was a really bad day for us but I know we can do much better than this. We just keep going.”

Verstappen’s penalties “harsh”

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner felt the penalties were “harsh” by the FIA.

He said: “Max did leave the track at Turn 4 then at Seven, Lando opened the door very late and both ran off there. The problem is, I think we're going to get into very dangerous territory of, at what point is a dive bomb going to be OK?

“I think, really, the FIA and the drivers need to sit down and decide what is acceptable and what isn't. I thought two 10-seconds was a bit on the harsh side today.

“You've always got to play to the rules. We'll look and learn from this race, but more for us today was that we just didn't have the pace. That's where our focus will be in the next five days.”