Verstappen: Penalty for Bottas incident 'not fair'

Max Verstappen has shown his frustration at the five-second penalty handed to him following an incident with Valtteri Bottas towards the end of the Italian Grand Prix, claiming that the clash was not his fault and the decision was 'not fair'.

Verstappen and Bottas were involved in a lengthy battle to take the final podium place behind eventual winner Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen, with the Dutchman working hard to keep the Finn at bay.

But in the closing stages Bottas clipped Verstappen's tyre and spun, having to take a detour off the track to get back into contention, and the stewards reviewing the incident deemed that Verstappen had failed to provide enough room and duly issued the penalty.

Verstappen launched into an expletive rant on Red Bull team radio, claiming that the decision is 'killing racing', and afterwards he had calmed down significantly but still felt he was in the right.

He said to Sky Sports: "We were in a position where we didn’t expect be. I think we gave him a car width, he clipped my wheel and he had to go straight. I don’t agree with it.

"But maybe they took the penalty because earlier in the race when he first tried to tag me I went a bit wide but even then I think it’s not fair. Because they give it straight away.

"It’s a shame, but looking at the positives the car is working really well."

Singapore is up next, a track that Red Bull have traditionally performed well at, but Verstappen is wary of the engine problems suffered by his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who failed to finish for the fourth time in six race, before making any judgements over what Red Bull can achieve there.

He added: "Let’s hope that the engine deficit is not too big to really fight them there."