Max Verstappen Furious After Charles Leclerc Takes Him Out in Suzuka

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was hopping mad when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc barrelled into him. The Dutchman found fault with not only Leclerc’s antics, but also with the F1 officials turning a blind eye.

Both Ferrari’s had horrific starts and Valtteri Bottas jumped both of them to lead. While Sebastian Vettel had a slight jump-start and negated it by going sluggishly, Leclerc had a genuinely slow getaway. Soon, Max Verstappen swept past the Monegasque driver into turn two, but Leclerc sideswiped the Red Bull.

As a result, the Dutch driver dropped to the back of the grid and was soon forced to retire from the race. It was noteworthy that the FIA officials would be investigating the incident, after the race concluded.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Verstappen did not mince his words on Leclerc’s actions. He said: “We had a really good start for once, that was a positive. And then I just stayed on the outside and suddenly into turn two, Charles drove into the side of my car.”

“From my side I don’t think I could have done anything different there. We all know that you lose downforce behind the car so that is not an excuse and I think he is experienced enough to know that.”

He found it strange that the incident was not investigated by the FIA (Ferrari International Assistance) stewards right away. The 22-year old revealed that his car was wrecked and that there were holes in the side of the car.

He continued, “I like hard racing, but I don’t think this was hard racing, I think it was irresponsible driving into turn two. He had a bad start so for sure he was trying to recover places but there’s only so much you can do. It’s a shame that it happens.”

Verstappen also slammed the decisions made by FIA officials, and even cited the example of Sebastian Vettel. He was convinced that Vettel had a false star off the starting line and should have copped a penalty.

He added: “And then I was watching back the footage from Seb’s start, I mean he moves, he stops, and the rules say you cannot move and that’s fine because he didn’t gain an advantage they said. I really don’t understand what’s going on today with the rules.”