Max Verstappen: F1 stewards have ‘clearly treated me differently’ with harsher penalties in Hamilton battle

Marc Mayo9 December 2021

Max Verstappen insists he has been given a raw deal by Formula One stewards as he prepares to duel Lewis Hamilton for the 2021 Formula One crown.

Last weekend’s race in Saudi Arabia featured several incidents between the pair with the Red Bull driver dropped down the grid at the second red flag for overtaking off the track, before a later penalty for causing a collision having tangled with Hamilton while trying to give the place back for another jump over the chicane.

The Brit’s win in Jeddah means they go into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix level on points - and Verstappen said he has “clearly” been hard done by throughout the year.

“I get treated differently to some other drivers,” he told Sky Sports. “I end up with a penalty while others do the same thing and don’t get a penalty.

“I don’t know why that is, you’ll have to ask other people that question. I already paid [the FIA] a nice fine so they had good dinners and wine - clearly it doesn’t help!”

The fine Verstappen referred to amounted to 50,000 euros for touching Hamilton’s rear-wing in Brazil parc ferme, although he did escape a sanction for running wide when defending his lead in the same weekend, forcing his rival off track in the process.

On his part, the reigning champion described the job of race director Michael Masi and his stewards as “amazing”, adding: “They have such a tough job. It’s great that it’s clear that everyone knows what the rules are.”

Verstappen and Hamilton appeared alongside each other for Thursday’s pre-race press conference and played down the chances of another collision at Yas Marina. Many had expected Mercedes to dominate F1 in 2021 but the 24-year-old described how even getting this far was an achievement in itself.

He said: “It’s been really enjoyable, after last year I didn’t have a lot of hope that we would be sitting here at the end of the season, fighting for a title.

“But I think from the start we were very competitive, we had some good results and a bit of bad luck as well, but overall we can be really proud of the whole team effort to be sitting here and fighting for this title.”

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