Was Max Verstappen’s twenty second penalty justified?

At the Mexico Grand Prix, Dutch driver Max Verstappen accumulated 20s worth of penalties.

This was for some very aggressive driving that forced both himself and Lando Norris to have to go off the track.

Although 20 seconds seems unfair, has this been a long time coming?

The Dutch driver has a very aggressive style of racing where he breaks much later than his opponent.

However this causes controversy as he brakes so late, that he has to slow the car down so much, that it causes the other driver to either back out of the corner and let him past, go wide and be forced to give the position back for an illegal overtake or crash into him.

This means that when drivers don’t back out, the stewards have to get involved.

It was in 2021 that people first truly realised Max Verstappen’s aggressive style, with his battling with Lewis Hamilton throughout the season.

There were a lot of moments in the season which caused great controversy, for example at Brazil, Verstappen made an overtake on Hamilton which caused both drivers to go off the track, Verstappen stayed in front and the stewards decided to not give a penalty.

This wasn’t the worst of it though as a few of them ended in crashes, one being at Monza where Hamilton and Verstappen were wheel to wheel, Hamilton seemed to be ahead, however Verstappen did one of his aggressive moves, breaking so late that the other driver was forced to back out, but Hamilton did not back out this time and they made contact. 

Both of them were out of the race, but again there was no penalty for Verstappen.

In 2022 and 2023 we didn’t see much wheel to wheel racing from the red bull driver as his car was so dominant, he was usually not the one doing the overtaking

However it would be in 2024 where Verstappen’s aggressive overtakes returned and with the Red bull dominance ending, McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari caught up and Verstappen was in a close fight.

In Austria the controversy started, him and Lando Norris were wheel to wheel, Verstappen forced him wide and the two made contact, this time the stewards did intervene with a penalty for Verstappen, making it clear that the stewards were not standing for it this season.

It happened again in Hungary, but with old rival Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen did an aggressive overtake which made him lock up and the two made contact, with Verstappen receiving another penalty.

The Red Bull had not been performing in the second half of 2024 with the Red Bull driver showed signs of frustration.

At Austin, It was Verstappen who made the overtake and it appeared that he forced both drivers to go off track, with Norris ending up ahead this time, but the stewards deemed it illegal.

Norris got a penalty for overtaking outside the track, this led to controversy over who was at fault. 

Norris was Max’s main title rival and having made contact twice, things were looking up for a great battle between them in Mexico, with the pair being next to each other in qualifying.

It was on lap 10 where they would come together agin after Norris overtook Verstappen. 

With Verstappen having the slower car he had to overtake him soon in order for there to be any chance to beat him.

This is when the true Verstappen came out with him lunging up the inside of Norris, not making the corner at all and taking both cars wide. 

The red mist then descended onto Verstappen and he blatantly pushed Norris off the track at full speed, with Norris doing well to avoid it.

This time the stewards had no choice and gave Verstappen a penalty, but it wasn’t just a 5 or 10 second penalty, it was a 20 second penalty!

2, 10-second penalties for forcing another driver off the track and leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Although a 20 second penalty is a lot, it seemed acceptable and in line with the rules and showed the stewards were really trying to send a warning and prevent it from happening again.

The punishments will help clamp down on the dangerous actions that Verstappen has gotten away with in previous years, and it will be interesting to see how Max Verstappen responds and will he change his driving style for the better?