Verstappen admits Piastri tussle ‘potentially’ cost him win

Max Verstappen conceded that his tussle with Oscar Piastri at the start of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which earned him a penalty, "potentially" cost him victory on a night where his Red Bull had "good pace".

The Red Bull driver was hit with a five-second time penalty early in the Jeddah race for leaving the track and gaining an advantage after running wheel-to-wheel with Oscar Piastri into the first corner, before cutting Turn 2 in order to retain the lead.

While both drivers protested their case over their respective team radios, the stewards ultimately sanctioned Verstappen.

“Yeah, potentially, it is what it is," said Verstappen, when asked if his chances of victory on Sunday had hinged on what happened at Turn 1.

Verstappen admits Turn 1 tussle with Piastri ‘potentially’ cost him victory in Jeddah

"The positives are that of course, in the race, we had quite good pace.”

Having finished 2.8s off Piastri, Verstappen said of his pace: “Compared to Friday, we improved a lot because on Friday we were struggling a lot on the tyres and I surprised myself in that first stint. I didn’t expect that we could actually pull away a little bit.

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“On the hard tyre, I have to say that it was a little bit more difficult, I had too much understeer in the car and then you can’t really attack corners, but overall, still a very good race for us.”

Verstappen’s sole victory this season came at the Japanese Grand Prix, on another comparatively high-speed layout dubbed as a ‘drivers' circuit’.

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Asked if the fine margins to victory was a sign of progress or if this was track specific, he added: “I do think that we have found a really good set-up on our car but also, this track suits our car a bit better, plus the degradation is quite low.

"I think we know that we still have things to improve on the car and we just need to get a few updates on the car to help that. Some tracks will be better, some will be a bit worse.

“It’s tough, I think. I think what we need to try and work on is just being a bit more consistent overall.”

HIGHLIGHTS: Relive Piastri's victory in Saudi Arabia as McLaren man comes out on top ahead of Verstappen