Valtteri Bottas breaks character with sweary assessment of Max Verstappen | F1 | Sport

Valtteri Bottas appeared to send an indirect dig at Max Verstappen following his battle with Lando Norris at the United States Grand Prix. A five-second penalty was handed down to Norris after he was deemed to have passed his Dutch rival outside the track limits.

It came even though Norris was essentially forced off by Verstappen, who dived down the inside of the corner and drifted wide on the exit. At the start of the race, the Red Bull driver escaped punishment for running his McLaren rival off the road at Turn One.

George Russell, meanwhile, was penalised for doing the same thing as Verstappen when he shoved Bottas wide at Turn 12.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s race in Mexico, Bottas accused some drivers of ‘taking the p**s’ out of the regulations but refused to name any names.

He said: “It’s always been pretty clear, no drama there. It’s just that some drivers are pushing the limits of the regulations more and almost like taking the p**s out of it, but the rules are clear.”

Bottas was then asked if he agrees with drivers flying into corners to reach the apex first and gain priority under the current regulations.

“It’s a bit of an issue, but then you come to the point that if you leave the track, you’re not allowed to gain an advantage, which is not always easy to measure, like who’s gaining more or less advantage,” he replied.

“That’s been kind of the situation always. I think now with the guidelines, people are really making sure that they are ahead at the apex no matter if they make the corner or not, which is not really how you should race, but I don’t have a solution for that.”

Several drivers, including Lewis Hamilton, have called for a panel of permanent stewards to be introduced in a bid to increase consistency. Others have argued that rotating a group of stewards can help to ensure fairness and stop any accusations of bias.

“When we’re rotating the stewards, they try to be consistent,” said Bottas. “They try to follow the guidelines but it’s not always possible because every incident or overtake and every track are different.

“As long as you have different stewards, you will have different opinions, but I think the FIA knows that is an issue sometimes and they’re trying to find a solution for the future.”