How Max Verstappen could have escaped race-defining penalty in Saudi Arabian GP

Max Verstappen was handed down a five-second time penalty during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, a moment that heavily shaped the outcome of the race in Jeddah. The Red Bull driver was found guilty by the stewards of leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage when he took to the run-off area on the exit of Turn 1 to preserve his lead on the first lap. Oscar Piastri had planted his McLaren on the inside line, getting alongside the Red Bull driver and thus claiming the corner. In many ways, it was a case of giving the 27-year-old a taste of his own medicine . The Australian pushed the RB21 wide, as he was entitled to do, leaving Verstappen nowhere to go and with no other option but to leave the track and rejoin. Not doing so would have resulted in contact between the pair, but the Dutchman was only still alongside because he feathered off the brake pedal and carried so much speed into Turn 1 that he would not have made the corner, even if the MCL39 was not there. Looking at the telemetry of the corner was a crucial factor in the stewards' decision to penalise him, but the severity of the punishment was lessened - from 10 seconds - by the officials considering the fact it was the first corner of the race to be a mitigating circumstance. However, the four-time F1 drivers' champion could have avoided the time penalty altogether, as was outlined by the FIA to media during the race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The governing body indicated that if a driver gives up their advantage, in this case the lead of the grand prix, within a lap of the incident, the investigation - and therefore subsequent penalty - is usually dropped. Red Bull ultimately opted not to entertain that option, as the Milton Keynes team did not believe it would result in a punishment for Verstappen, something its former sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, who is now Stake F1 team principal, said he would have handled differently .