Rivals call for FIA ‘consistency’ after Max Verstappen reprimand confusion

Aston Martin have called for “consistency” in FIA punishments after Max Verstappen appeared to get off lightly during qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Dutchman was summoned for three separate alleged incidents of impeding during the session but escaped without a grid penalty, instead receiving two reprimands and a €5000 fine for Red Bull.

It seemed at odds for what the stewards have dished out throughout the season with a three-place grid drop often used in earlier events.

Aston Martin want ‘consistency’ with FIA impeding calls

Two of Verstappen’s three incidents occurred out on track with alleged impeding of Yuki Tsunoda and Logan Sargeant as well as an incident in the pit lane with the Red Bull driver accused of stopping other cars behind him from going out on track.

The blocking incident of Tsunoda forced the AlphaTauri driver to abort his lap and Verstappen did pick up a reprimand for it but critics wanted the grid drop which has been often used throughout the season.

Indeed it seemed that even Verstappen expected as much, commenting before the decision was made that starting 11th, 15th or last did not really matter to him given the team’s troubling performance.

Some also pointed to the fact that an AlphaTauri representative had not shown up to the meeting, suggesting some collusion between the two Red Bull-owned teams, although that was later reasoned as the FIA not sending a formal summons to AlphaTauri.

Aston Martin’s performance director Tom McCullough said he wants to see “consistency” in the penalties handed out.

“The stewards have all of the information,” he said. “From our side when you’ve been impeded, it’s frustrating.

“What we really want is consistency.”

It was a weekend to forget for Aston Martin with the team failing to score a point for the first time this season. Their chances of keeping that streak alive were halved when Lance Stroll was unable to race due to his qualifying injury while Fernando Alonso suffered an uncharacteristic error-strewn race.

As for Stroll, team boss Mike Krack said the Canadian will be back for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

“He’s generally sore,” the team boss told media in Singapore.

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“If you have an incident like that, you stress your muscles anyway. The analogy is like if you spend a very hard day in the gym, then also you feel not great, so this is where we’re at.

“I think it’s the right decision to be ready for Japan because it’s already in a couple of days’ time.

“The important thing is that he is fine and everything else is secondary.”

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