Verstappen STILL bitter over Monza penalty

Red Bull might have hopes of winning the Singapore Grand Prix, but a podium-costing time penalty from Monza a fortnight ago remained fresh in Max Verstappen's thoughts at Marina Bay. The Dutchman lost third place after being punished for colliding with Valtteri Bottas.

A five-second sanction ultimately dropped Verstappen from third to fifth, although he may well have ended the race there anyway had Bottas and Sebastian Vettel behind not cooled off in the closing stages of the Italian Grand Prix.

Verstappen had given Bottas little room at turn one at Monza, forcing the Mercedes to take to the escape rad, but he maintained that he saw little wrong in his actions, having said that stewards were "killing racing" when informed that he would be punished.

"I did calm down - It's just when I think it's unfair, I get angry," Verstappen said.

"I think it's quite a normal reaction when you think something's unfair and you are unfairly treated, you get angry. At least that's how it is with me.

"Looking back at it, initially I thought I could've given it a few more millimetres, not centimetres but millimetres, but still he was on the white line. To avoid an accident there was still room to the left, but he clipped my wheel. There was no damage and that is why it was very hard."

Verstappen was so enraged that he was moved to pore over the 2017 race in search of a similar incident, which only fuelled his frustration.

"So then I was analysing other videos from the year before, because when you go back 10, 15 years before it is a bit irrelevant with the rules and stuff," he said.

"The same happened exactly between [Lance] Stroll and [Felipe] Massa, where Massa was very clever.

"He didn't clip his wheel but stayed on the white line. He took a little bit of the green, but his tyre was still on the white line. I always try to make it as difficult as possible for them to get by, and I will fight for every millimetre on the track, which I did. So I think it's still very harsh."