Max Verstappen says it was was vital for him to apologize to Oscar Piastri for hitting him at Flip 1 at the beginning of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, even when he didn’t agree together with his subsequent penalty for it.
The Dutchman bought begin and had already overtaken Carlos Sainz when he tried a transfer down the within of Piastri below braking for the primary nook. Verstappen took to the within curb however was by no means totally alongside and tapped Piastri right into a spin — additionally pirouetting 360 levels himself — to place the McLaren driver to the again of the sphere.
“Launch was good after which I attempted to seize the within, and I rapidly realized, as soon as I dedicated to it, that the hole was closing and I needed to attempt to get out of it, as a result of I didn’t need to trigger a crash with Oscar,” Verstappen mentioned. “Sadly we nonetheless clipped one another, however I already apologized to Oscar. It’s not what you need to occur and particularly not with him — he’s an incredible man. It occurred. It’s only a bit unlucky.”
Verstappen was given a 10-second time penalty for inflicting a collision, one among a a number of handed out for a similar infringement in the course of the race, however prompt he was sad on the punishment.
“Actually, I don’t need to speak about it. I’m simply pleased that the season is over,” he mentioned. “For me, an important factor that I needed to do is simply apologize to Oscar, as a result of I’ve nothing to realize, nothing to lose. I went for it. It didn’t work out. And particularly additionally for him that we each spun. It’s not good — he’s a pal of mine, so I don’t need to have any, like, bizarre emotions or no matter, going into the break.
“I don’t perceive something [about penalties] anymore, but it surely’s tremendous, no matter. I’m not gonna get indignant about stuff like that. It’s not price my time. Simply have a break. Like I mentioned, an important factor is that I apologize to Oscar, and that’s it.
“I believe while you’re in that place, you’re specializing in the automobile forward, you commit. How I really feel it as properly … while you begin first or second, you by no means actually regarded behind. So I went for it, after which I spotted, ’S***, he doesn’t see me there.’ So I used to be making an attempt to get out of it, however then we nonetheless clipped. After all, that’s on me, however I used to be anticipating perhaps 20 seconds, 30 seconds, I don’t know, stop-and-go? It’s perhaps one thing to speak about for subsequent time.”
