As Max Verstappen leaves Mexico with his championship lead reduced by 10 points, he insists he won't "cry" over the penalties handed to him during the race.
The Red Bull driver received two 10-second penalties for incidents involving his title rival Lando Norris, along with two penalty points on his F1 super license.
Norris did not hold back his criticism, calling Verstappen's actions "dangerous," "dirty," and "unfair." The media also weighed in, with Blick's Roger Benoit declaring, "Verstappen loses his nerve," and Switzerland's Tagesanzeiger stating, "The Dutchman is performing wild manoeuvres against his world championship opponent."
Le Parisien noted that the race stewards appeared "surprisingly far less lenient" with Verstappen than they had been with Norris just a week prior in Austin.
Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko, however, came to Verstappen's defense.
"The penalties were very severe," Marko told Sky Deutschland. "I think this was an overreaction to what happened in Austin."
Despite the criticism and penalties, Verstappen remained largely unbothered when addressing the press. "I don't know, maybe they should give me 30 seconds next time and I can go for some kind of world record," he said, sarcastically commenting on his two 10-second penalties.
"I'm not going to cry about the penalties," Verstappen added. "We accept it and move on."
His championship lead dropped from 57 points before the race to 47 after the checkered flag.
For Verstappen, the bigger issue wasn't the penalties but the performance of his car. "The real problem is that we are too slow, and that's why I have to engage in these kinds of battles. That is actually the problem," he explained.
"To be honest, 20 seconds is a lot, but I don't want to moan about it - that's not me. And I'm not going to say what I really think here. In the end, it doesn't matter whether people agree with me or not - it's not going to change the penalties."
When asked if he would do anything differently when battling Norris in future races, Verstappen smiled and quipped: "Maybe I'll turn the engine off and have a drink next time. I'd have enough time for that."
