Formula One: Kimi Raikkonen says Max Verstappen must accept penalty

Kimi Raikkonen has stated that Max Verstappen must accept the penalty given to him by Formula One stewards in the United States Grand Prix.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was given a five-second time penalty for an aggressive pass on Scuderia Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in the closing corners on the final lap of last weekend’s Formula One race, the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Verstappen’s pass on Raikkonen was for 3rd place, and Verstappen held on to the position to cross the finish line in 3rd behind only race winner Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. You can see a video of the pass here.

However, as Verstappen was preparing to take his spot on the podium, it was announced that his pass on Raikkonen was illegal as he apparently exceeded the track limits to make the pass.

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Because of the five-second time penalty that came as a result of that call, Verstappen was pushed back to 4th place while Raikkonen claimed the third and final spot on the podium.

Like many other people, Verstappen has since spoken out against the controversial penalty, even calling one of the stewards an “idiot” while saying calls such as the one made against him are ruining Formula One as a whole.

But Raikkonen, the beneficiary of Verstappen’s penalty feels as though Verstappen just needs to accept the penalty and move on. I guess it’s easy for him to say seeing as how he gained his first podium finish in five races as a result of the penalty.

Here is an excerpt of what Raikkonen said.

"“You have to accept it. Sometimes you feel it’s harsh against you, sometimes it goes your way, but that’s how it’s going to be. Everyone was saying ‘oh, Mika Salo was helping Ferrari‘ but in Spa he was a steward and I got a penalty for nothing, really.”“I got many penalties for reasons were a bit…you feel that is nothing. But you leave it and next time you try to do differently and get a different result. They do their work the best they can. I know the feeling when it’s against you is not the greatest, but that’s life.”“There’s a few different stewards around and everybody has their own opinions on everything – somebody will be happy, somebody will be sad, and that’s how it’s always going to be. I don’t see that changing even if we have the same guys always. Would we be happy with more consistency?”"

Next: Looking back at Lewis Hamilton's record-setting accomplishment

Formula One is back in action this Sunday, October 29th, at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico for the Mexican Grand Prix. How will Max Verstappen perform in his first race since incurring the controversial penalty that cost him his fourth podium finish of the year and third in a row? Tune into NBC on Sunday at 3:00 PM ET to find out.