Verstappen: Formula 1 stewards forced to give certain penalties

Verstappen spent a day observing FIA officials during the Marrakech Formula E race in January, as part of a punishment handed to him last year.

The stewards' decision-making process and F1's rules have been in the spotlight since the previous race in Canada, where Sebastian Vettel controversially lost victory because of a time penalty he received for rejoining unsafely and forcing Lewis Hamilton off the track.

Asked if he felt the current rules were bad for racing, Red Bull driver Verstappen said: "I've been with the stewards in Marrakech the whole day.

"I think they do realise what's happening but sometimes they can't give another penalty because it's written in the rulebook exactly like that, that they have to give this penalty.

"Sometimes they don't want to, but they have to.

"I read a few comments that some stewards they got bad language messages on Twitter and stuff which is not fair.

"They are trying to do their job in the best possible way and it's not fair to say they did a bad job.

"I think it's good to look at the rulebook and what we can change/take out."

Verstappen reckons F1's rules should change so that the line is drawn if "you hit each other off the track", because "a bit of wheel-banging won't hurt".

He also believes the strong chance of a penalty will influence a driver's actions in battle.

"He [Vettel] did everything he could to do it in a safe way," said Verstappen.

"You go off in the lead, you know Lewis is behind by only a second and a half, so you stay on throttle and you're managing [the car].

"Lewis saw him go off. When he goes through the left he knows Seb is going to come back on and of course he's going to drift wide, and he had to back off.

"If I had been Lewis I would have been on the radio as well saying he blocked me. You know it's in the rules and there's a possible penalty."

Verstappen also questioned the logic behind applying a penalty during the race, as it detracted from the lead battle.

"In general if you're going to award a penalty maybe don't do it in the race," said Verstappen, who fought for victory in the Monaco GP but then lost his second place finish because of his own five-second time penalty.

"It ruins the whole excitement of Lewis catching Seb and fighting for the win.

"When you look back at it, the first mistake that happened was Seb went off the track but then he rejoined, he didn't do anything.

"He was not blocking Lewis on purpose. Why they gave him the penalty was wrong."