Verstappen hits back at Vettel, Suzuka stewards

Max Verstappen fired back at the Japanese Grand Prix stewards and Sebastian Vettel over the collisions he made with the Ferrari drivers at Suzuka. The Red Bull man picked up a five-second penalty, having collided with Kimi Raikkonen on the opening lap, and then was clattered into by Vettel a few laps later.

Verstappen was penalised for returning to the track unsafely, having locked up and skidded onto the grass, and banging into the side of Raikkonen.

Vettel spotted a gap down the inside of Spoon, but smashed into the side of Verstappen – an incident the Ferrari man said his opponent was solely to blame for.

The Dutchman was infuriated when informed he had been penalised for the Raikkonen incident, and said he had been punished for trying to observe the rules properly.

"If I get a five-second penalty next time I'll just cut the track like Valtteri [Bottas] did. I know what to do next time," he told Sky Sports.

Happy finishing on the podium! ???? Despite some damage to our car we had the pace and we did a great job @redbullracing ???????? #KeepPushing #JapaneseGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/3IMeu6Vmb2 — Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) October 7, 2018

Verstappen seemed less concerned about Vettel's criticism and said that the German had been worthy of a penalty similar to the one the Red Bull had received when the pair collided in China earlier this year.

"It's not a corner where you can overtake," he said.

"He could have gone past me on the next lap. It's like the mistake I made in China.

"Even the most experienced drivers make mistakes. Looking back, it was like China and I got a penalty there."

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