NASCAR Driver Sparks a Revolt Against McLaren’s New Golden Goose With Hilarious Taunt Against F1

In the 2004 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon went side by side at 200 mph, trading paint, swapping spots with rapid overtaking, and never once taking their foot off the accelerator; no penalties, just pure, American racing. But with 5 laps to go, Brian Vickers sparked a caution, and both Dale Jr. and Gordon didn’t let off the gas and raced to the finish line. Jr. won the race as he edged out the #24 car, but then came NASCAR’s decision, and it stunned the fans sitting in the grandstands.

NASCAR had eliminated racing to the finish line in case of a caution. Instead, when the caution comes out, the field gets frozen, and the lead car during the time of the caution takes home the win. The officials didn’t even consider a one-lap shootout, citing safety concerns. And just like that, Gordon was granted the win, but the fans didn’t like this call and threw beer cans and seat cushions at the #24 car. It was clear that fans like logic and reasoning, not a complex rule book, and something similar of sort has transpired during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Only this time around, fans are venting out their frustration on the internet and not by throwing cans and debris.

Fueling the fan sentiment was Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar. He shared an image of Kyle Larson beating Chris Buescher at Kansas Speedway, where the HMS driver beat his rival by 0.001 seconds. This is the closest finish in NASCAR history, but it sparked a huge controversy over how crooked the start-finish line was. Something similar happened with Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri as they headed to Turn 1 during the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.

Piastri fired off well and had the edge on the inside lane over the pole sitter. Verstappen did try to cancel out this move, but he was forced wide, and he had to steer his car over the curb and cut the track short. Technically, the Red Bull star had to give this position back to Piastri, but he didn’t budge and risked a 5-second penalty. And as he headed to the pit road for new tires, he served the penalty and handed the race win to the McLaren driver.

F1 fans were livid with how the stewards ruled the first corner in favor of the race winner. Carson Hocevar added fuel to the fire with his tweet, along with a caption, “nobody: f1: i was clearly ahead. that was my corner.” This was a sarcastic jab towards Oscar Piastri, where he intentionally cut off Verstappen, forcing him off the racetrack. And not just Hocevar, the F1 fans also agreed with his sentiment and bashed the stewards for needlessly altering the outcome of the race with penalties.

F1 fans fuming over Oscar Piastri’s golden boy treatment at Abu Dhabi

“no seriously like oscar misses the corner and max gets penalized? I just don’t understand what they want other than Max yanking it left and wrecking the field,” commented a fan. Well, Verstappen could’ve sparked a huge crash had he not been cut out by Piastri. The McLaren driver had the inside lane and could’ve eased by the first corner, yet he opted to intentionally cut off his championship rival.

Fans believed Verstappen lacked clarity about the penalty. “He should have been told to give the place back. F1 rules seem to be inconsistent.” Ideally, the race control gives the command for the penalties to the teams, and then it is passed on to the drivers. Well, in this case, there was a clear gap, and the Red Bull team believes that they didn’t concede their lead because their driver was forced out of the position. “You can quite clearly see at the apex of the corner that Max is clearly ahead. The rules of engagement were discussed previously, and it was a very harsh decision.” Team boss Christian Honner said.

A similar sentiment was echoed in another comment: “‘It was my corner’ is the fancy European way of saying ‘I’m afraid of racing side-by-side.’  For NASCAR enthusiasts, it is quite common to see drivers competing aggressively for a position, racing side by side. They felt that Verstappen received a penalty for something common in the sport, which shows the lack of racing mentality in F1. The sarcasm was spotted throughout the thread. “No way that was only 5 second penalty…,” tweeted another fan, taking a dig at Piastri’s win.

Now we know there’s a hot debate between NASCAR and F1 racing. But today’s incident allowed this fan to throw shades at the open-wheel series, “That’s why nascar is way better.” Well, NASCAR is more like a contact sport, where trading paint or even running three-wide is common. Remember the photo finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway last year? It’s almost unimaginable to see F1 cars finish a race like this.

What did you make of this controversy, and was the 5-second penalty to Verstappen fair? Share your take in the comments.