That is the opinion of 13-time race winner David Coulthard, who in his capacity as a Channel 4 pundit, analysed the coming together between Red Bull’s four-time World Champion Verstappen and McLaren’s Piastri at the start of the Abu Dhabi season finale.
With the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Piastri locking out the front row, Verstappen put his nose down the inside of Piastri into Turn 1 with contact ensuing, both drivers sent into a spin with Verstappen receiving a 10-second time penalty, after the stewards deemed him “wholly at fault” for the incident.
Coulthard did not disagree.
Asked if thought the 10-second penalty for Verstappen was the right decision, Coulthard replied: “Yeah, look, the getaway for him initially was very good, managed to make himself in a position to dive on the brakes.
“But the problem, of course, at Turn 1, is it’s not a big-stop corner.
“Oscar, I think, did very well to leave enough space. He obviously sensed or figured out it was Max, and maybe he should leave a little bit of a gap.
No harm for trying. In the end, it was clearly Max’s car that rolled into the back of Oscar’s car. And then, from that point on, the dream one-two result was never going to be.”
And in the immediate aftermath following their coming together, Piastri went on McLaren team radio to quip towards Verstappen: “Yep, move of a World Champion, that one.”
However, later in the race Piastri found himself as the one picking up a 10-second penalty for instigating a collision, after ramming into the back of Franco Colapinto’s Williams.
“It’s a good reminder, don’t speak too soon,” Coulthard reacted.
“You know, they’re all pretty good at coming with their little chips here and there. But, it’s the chequered flag that decides all, and that was an unfortunate 10-second penalty as well for Oscar.”
Colapinto suffered a puncture and diffuser damage in that whack from Piastri, later retiring from the race on Lap 26 due to a power unit failure.
And it is safe to say that Colapinto – who was contesting what could be his final F1 race – was far from pleased with Piastri.
He told DAZN Spain: “It wasn’t the end of the season I wanted.
“Piastri crashed into me. I don’t know what’s wrong with this guy. He hit me at Turn 6 and then a few other people, I think?
“He spent five laps trying to overtake [Yuki] Tsunoda – the poor guy was two seconds slower and couldn’t pass him.
“Anyway it’s a pity because I think that’s where the race got complicated for us.
“After changing the tyres because of the puncture I had a good pace despite the damage to the diffuser.
“I wanted to finish the race and finish with a smile on my face, but that’s part of F1.”
