F1 commentating legend Martin Brundle has ripped Max Verstappen for “plain dangerous” moves in a battle with Lando Norris early in the Mexican Grand Prix.
Having started second, Verstappen took the lead from the pole sitting Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in the opening sequence of corners, before the safety car was called for a crash for the RB of Yuki Tsunoda.
Sainz took the lead back with a tidy move down the inside on lap nine, and a lap later came under pressure from Norris, his nearest championship challenger.
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The McLaren ace tried to make a move around the outside into turn four, but the Dutchman pushed him off the track. Norris skated through the grass and kept the position.
Four corners later, Verstappen divebombed Norris and took them both off the track. Verstappen kept the position.
Their squabbling allowed the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc to get past and into second place.
In commentary, Brundle – who himself has 165 grand prix starts – foresaw a penalty for Verstappen, and said the Red Bull team should tell Verstappen to give the place back.
“That was a shove, unquestionable,” he said.
Verstappen was first given a 10-second penalty for forcing another driver off the track, which was for the first move at turn four. A further 10-second penalty, for the second incident, was issued shortly after for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
“I’m sorry Max, that was outrageous … plain dangerous,” Brundle quipped.
The penalties meant Verstappen had to sit stationary for 20 seconds at his first pitstop before the team could start working on the car. It dropped him well down the order, but he rallied to finish sixth. Norris crossed the line second.
The first move into turn four was eerily similar to their battle at the US Grand Prix a week ago, for which Norris was given a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. The difference in this move was Norris was marginally ahead at the apex of the corner.
Speaking on the podium, Norris was coy when asked his view of the incident.
“It was a very tough race, the first few laps a lot of it was trying to stay in the race and avoid any crashes,” he said.
“I knew what to expect, I didn’t want to expect such a thing because I respect Max a lot as a driver, but I was ready to expect something like this.
“This is not very clean driving, in my opinion, but I avoided it and it was a good race.”
The championship gap is down to 47 points.
“We’ll keep our head down. That’s all we can do, we’ll keep pushing,” Norris said.
Brundle also doubled down on his assessment post-race.
“It’s a red-mist moment, a ridiculous moment,” he said after the race.
“He just left his foot on the throttle and took the pair of them off. I think he was lucky he didn’t get a drive-through penalty or something like that.
“I’m so in awe of Max and I hate it when he does that. He’s better than that. He’s too good to drive like that. I honestly think that was a short-fuse moment.”
Brundle said Verstappen was carrying frustrations the Red Bull had slipped from being the most dominant car on the grid to the third-fastest.
After the race, Verstappen also had two penalty points added to his license for the move at turn four, taking his tally to six in the last 12 months. Accruing 12 in a 12-month period will earn him a race-ban.
Sainz was never headed on his way to his second victory of the season, and his first since the Australian Grand Prix in March. It’s the first time in his career he’s taken multiple victories in a single season.
He’s the first Spanish-speaking driver to win the Mexican Grand Prix in the biggest Spanish-speaking city in the world. Sainz will move to Williams next season to make way for Lewis Hamilton.
Leclerc ran second for much of the race, before slipping to third behind Norris late in the race.
It could’ve ended much worse for Leclerc. The Monagasque was coming under pressure from Norris when the car stepped sideways on the exit of the final corner. He somehow managed to catch the car and avoid what would’ve been a heavy crash.
Fernando Alonso’s 400th grand prix weekend ended in retirement on lap 16. He is expected to start his 400th race in Qatar next month.
Having started in 17th, Oscar Piastri finished eighth.
Liam Lawson also made a statement in a wheel-to-wheel battle on lap 19 with the Red Bull of home hero Sergio Perez. The pair would finish 16th and 17th.
The F1 season continues next weekend with the Brazilian Grand Prix.