Breaking news

Formula 1

Verstappen US GP penalty was “toughest decision” - steward

Formula 1 steward Garry Connelly has admitted that penalising Max Verstappen at the 2017 US GP was one of the “toughest” decisions that he’s ever been involved with.

Adam Cooper

Published: Feb 6, 2021, 12:58 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB13

Verstappen passed Kimi Raikkonen for third place on the last lap of the Austin race. However, the Red Bull driver was quickly deemed by the stewards to have gone off the circuit and gained a lasting advantage while making the move.

Immediately after the race he was given a five-second penalty that reversed the positions.

The Dutchman was thus replaced by Raikkonen in the podium ceremony at the last minute, triggering a furore on social media among fans.

Speaking to fellow stewards around the world in an FIA web conference on Saturday, Connelly cited the Verstappen case when stressing that any decision should always consider the consequences for parties who might have lost out.

“In deciding we must demonstrate the responsibility to consider not just the side of the alleged offender,” Connelly noted.

“It's important to think about those who've been impacted as well. And I want to give a classic example here that sticks in my mind and my fellow stewards at that event.

“It was the 2017 US Grand Prix, it was the last lap of the race. And Max Verstappen performed a brilliant move, an amazing move, on Kimi Raikkonen. And he overtook him on I think it was the third last turn.

“We had Mika Salo as our driver steward. And Mika is extremely quick on seeing what's going on on a race track.

"And he said to us immediately that was a brilliant move by Max, but he was off the track by about a metre on the inside of the corner. He left the track to overtake.

“We went back and looked at the vision, and it was very, very clear - it was very, very clear within a minute of us looking at that.

“And with my fellow stewards in the room, Radovan Novak, Mika Salo and Dennis Dean, it was a difficult decision, because we had to pull Max Verstappen off third place, off the podium, and replace him with Kimi Raikkonen.”

Read Also:

Connelly recalled the uproar that the penalty created on social media.

“And boy, did we ever cop a lot of criticism,” he said. “We were public enemies number one in the Netherlands, and all the Red Bull fans around the world were up in arms. And a lot of other people as well.

“But we also looked at it from another perspective, in that another driver had been robbed of his rightful position, because Max couldn't have overtaken Kimi if he'd have complied with the rules.

“And comply with the rules is very simple, you cannot go off track to overtake someone, you cannot leave the track and gain an advantage. And this was a lasting advantage. He went from fourth to third by overtaking one metre off the track.

“So when it comes to a difficult decision, yes, you feel sorry for the person that you may have to penalise.

“But you also have to think about the other competitors that are affected by the move, or by the action of the competitor that you are investigating.”

Connelly made it clear that he has no regrets about the call made that day.

“So I think that's something that always sticks with me, that was a really, really probably one of the toughest decisions I've ever had to take with my colleagues.

“But I still believe we did the right thing, we took the right decision.

“And I'm pretty sure if you speak to Max Verstappen today, he'll agree that in retrospect, it was the right decision.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article F1 eager to avoid triple-headers despite interest from new venues

Next article Haas: Grosjean, Magnussen could return as F1 substitute

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Aprilia: “Marco Bezzecchi couldn’t avoid the collision; Marc Marquez moved in on him"

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

2 min

Aprilia: “Marco Bezzecchi couldn’t avoid the collision; Marc Marquez moved in on him"

How the Racing Bulls pendulum is swinging back towards undeniable Liam Lawson

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

45 min

How the Racing Bulls pendulum is swinging back towards undeniable Liam Lawson

Brazilian Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2026

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

Brazilian Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2026

How Max Verstappen beat Red Bull's own simulation tools with P2 in Brazil

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

1 h

How Max Verstappen beat Red Bull's own simulation tools with P2 in Brazil

Feature

Discover prime content

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts