Ecclestone stated that Red Bull might have been able to 'evade' the penalty.

      "We contemplated returning the position, but..."

      Red Bull has firmly decided not to contest Max Verstappen’s 5-second penalty by opting not to request a ‘right of review’. Although the team theoretically had 96 hours to make a decision, team leaders Christian Horner, Dr. Helmut Marko, and even Verstappen himself suggested in Jeddah that a protest was improbable. However, De Telegraaf newspaper states that while the team disagrees with the penalty for cutting the first corner in an incident involving McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, they are officially moving forward. This comes despite Horner bringing printed evidence - telemetry and onboard camera images - to his post-race briefing with the media on Sunday.

      “They began addressing it immediately,” said former Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos, who was with Horner, Marko, and Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen after the race, as reported by Ziggo Sport. “Horner asked someone to print those documents because he intended to challenge the FIA.” However, former F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone believes the team is solely responsible for the penalty that arguably cost Verstappen the victory, as he finished less than 5 seconds behind Piastri. “This could have all been avoided,” Ecclestone remarked to Blick newspaper. “Why didn’t Max relinquish the position right away? Gaining back 5 seconds is typically challenging under normal conditions,” he added.

      Horner clarified that Verstappen was not instructed to yield to Piastri because “we didn’t believe Max had done anything wrong.” On the other hand, team advisor Marko mentioned to ORF: “We talked about returning the position, but then the penalty was given.” However, in his latest column for Speed Week, the 81-year-old elaborated: “There wasn’t much debate about giving the position back. Our strategy expert and FIA liaison indicated that they had observed several similar incidents in Formula 2 without penalties—just warnings. Luke Browning managed it twice without a penalty.”

      Some suggest the loss of sporting director Jonathan Wheatley to Audi-owned Sauber has affected their decision-making process. The new head of Sauber admitted after the Saudi Arabian race: “I would have approached it differently, or advised a different approach.” Another theory posits that Red Bull knows Verstappen warranted the penalty, but defended their driver nonetheless. “I think you’re a very good team principal if you always back your driver,” Doornbos affirmed. “Too much has been said about it,” he continued. “We also saw footage of the FIA president (Mohammed Ben Sulayem) pointing at Max after the race,” Doornbos remarked. “It doesn’t reflect well on the sport, but fortunately, the championship battle remains competitive."

      Auto Motor und Sport editor Michael Schmidt believes Verstappen exacerbated his own situation after going off the track. “I think it contributed to the issue that he accelerated to shake off Piastri before the DRS zone,” he noted. “It would have been wiser to momentarily ease off the gas to demonstrate his willingness to concede. Therefore, one must acknowledge that the penalty was warranted,” Schmidt added. Red Bull is currently developing a major car upgrade that Marko believes will keep Verstappen in the title race. “We are making gradual progress, and I believe we’ll have sufficient speed by Imola to outperform McLaren,” he stated. “We aren’t focused on the championship gap. It won’t be simple, but we have recovered from larger deficits. I still recall how, with (Sebastian) Vettel, we were over 40 points behind yet still claimed the championship.”