Verstappen: To be honest, 20 seconds is a lot!

As he leaves Mexico with a 10-point chunk taken out of his championship lead, Max Verstappen insists he is not going to "cry" about the penalties.

The Red Bull driver not only received two 10-second penalties for his latest wheel-to-wheel stoushes with title rival Lando Norris, but two penalty points against his Formula 1 super license.

McLaren’s Norris called the moves "dangerous", "dirty", and "unfair", and even the international media was scathing. "Verstappen loses his nerve," declared Roger Benoit of Blick newspaper.

Tagesanzeiger newspaper added: "The Dutchman is performing wild manoeuvres against his world championship opponent. It’s as if he’s worried about the world championship title for the first time in a long time."

As for Le Parisien, its writer says the stewards were "surprisingly far less lenient" with Verstappen than they were with Norris just a week ago in Austin.

Unsurprisingly, Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko defended his protege.

"The penalties were very severe," he told Sky Deutschland.

"I think this was an overreaction to what happened in Austin."

Triple world champion Verstappen, however, not only sounded unrepentant when addressing the media, but also unfazed. "I don’t know, maybe they should give me 30 seconds next time and I can go for some kind of world record.

"I don’t know, it is what it is," added the 27-year-old, whose championship lead diminished from 57 points prior to Sunday’s race to 47 after the chequered flag.

"I’m not going to cry about the penalties. We accept it and move on.

"The real problem is that we are too slow, and that’s why I have to engage in these kinds of battles. That is actually the problem," Verstappen explained.

"To be honest, 20 seconds is a lot, but I don’t want to moan about it - that’s not me. And I’m not going to say what I really think here. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether people agree with me or not - it’s not going to change the penalties."

When asked if he’ll do anything different next time he is wheel-to-wheel with Norris, starting in Brazil this weekend, he smiled: "Maybe I’ll turn the engine off and have a drink next time. I’d have enough time for that."