Verstappen rejects McLaren sympathy offer - 'They complain a lot'

Max Verstappen refused to offer any sympathy towards McLaren and Lando Norris following the latest contentious issue between the two F1 drivers.

Norris took the chequered flag in third position at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin behind a Ferrari one-two spearheaded by Charles Leclerc, but was quickly demoted to fourth following the imposition of a five-second time penalty.

That was for overtaking Verstappen off-track at the sharp Turn 12 left-hander on lap 52 of the 56-lap race.

Whilst the penalty was correctly applied by the stewards as per the Driving Standards Guidelines, McLaren felt aggrieved as, in defending his position, Verstappen also went off track, so forcing Norris into his manoeuvre.

Asked whether he sympathised with McLaren's position, Verstappen naturally gave short shrift to the question. "No, I don't," he replied sternly.

Expanding, he added: "I mean, they complain about a lot lately anyway, but it's very clear in the rules. Outside the white line, you cannot pass. I've been done for it as well in the past."

Verstappen referenced the 2017 USGP when he passed Kimi Raikkonen on the final lap to claim third, but was deemed to have gained an advantage by going off track, so incurring a five-second penalty that dropped him to fourth.

"I lost my podium like that," he said. "So I just remained calm, tried to do the best I could after that to bring the car to the end because it was not easy with the tyres and the situation that I was in. Overall, I still really enjoyed the battle we had."

Verstappen in survival mode

After comfortably winning Saturday's sprint, the grand prix was a different story for Verstappen as, like Norris, he had no answer to the pace of Ferrari duo Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

A consolation was the fact he extended his lead over Norris at the top of the drivers' standings to 57, with Leclerc still in the hunt as the Monégasque is a further 22 adrift, with 146 on the table from the remaining five grands prix and two sprints.

Reflecting on his drive, Verstappen said: "It wasn't the best race for us compared to the sprint. I just struggled for balance, for grip. I couldn't really brake or rotate the car.

"Quite quickly I realised we weren't going to win the race, so I just tried to do my own race, and we did the best strategy we could as a team, and then it was just surviving to the end.

"And then, of course, Lando arrived. We had some really good battles, honestly. It was really a lot of fun. But overall, it was still quite a tough race for me."