Red Bull's Max Verstappen has said he doesn't understand why a "stupid" five-second penalty was handed to him during the Japanese Grand Prix.
In the opening laps of the race, Verstappen locked up going into the Casio Triangle while defending from Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and ran wide onto the green astroturf.
Whilst returning to the circuit, Raikkonen attempted to go around the outside of the Red Bull but was forced off on to the grass as Verstappen attempted to recover after his mistake. The race stewards deemed the 21-year old had come back on track in an unsafe manner.
"So the first one, I totally do not agree with, with that penalty," said the young Dutchman.
"I locked up, I could have easily cut the track but I did everything in my, or the best efforts to get back onto the track, and he then chose to drive around the outside, which he could also have easily just waited for me to steer a bit wide.
"I don’t really understand why I get a five-second penalty for that. I really think that’s stupid."
After the initial confrontation with Raikkonen, Verstappen then tangled with the other Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel into the Spoon Curve on lap 8.
The German made a late move to the inside of Verstappen and collided with the Red Bull, pitching his Ferrari SF-71H into a half spin and fell to the back of the field.
Verstappen noted he did not take on damage after his contact with Raikkonen, however, after the collision with Vettel he sustained floor damage but it didn't affect his pace in his attempt to chase down Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas in the final laps.
"We didn’t have damage, but Sebastian was quite quick," added Verstappen. "He tried to overtake me in a corner where you shouldn’t overtake, so he under-steered into my car and we went off the track.
"I had damage to the floor, but we managed to keep running on a good pace, and once I had my pit stop, I still came out in third. From there onwards, I think we had the right tyre.
"I was actually quite happy with the race from that moment."
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