Max Verstappen will escape any additional penalties from the FIA despite his outburst against the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix stewards, calling them "stupid idiots". The Dutch racer was handed a 10-second penalty for a collision with Oscar Piastri, in which he attempted an inside overtake on the McLaren leading to both vehicles spinning.

While first-corner incidents are typically met with more leniency due to the challenge of avoiding collisions, the stewards decided to penalise Verstappen—a decision that clearly irked the Red Bull driver. Upon learning about his penalty through team radio communication from his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, Verstappen retorted: "Can we ask for 20 seconds? Stupid idiots! " Direct criticism towards race officials tends to attract scrutiny and possible sanctions.

Notably, in 2023, then-Haas team principal Guenther Steiner received an official reprimand following his labelling of the stewards as "laymen" and advocating for permanent professional referees within the sport. Many predicted that Verstappen's remarks would incur a harsh response from the stewards.

Nonetheless, the FIA confirmed later that there will be no further action taken against Verstappen for the comments made during the race.

Verstappen finished the Abu Dhabi race sixth while Piastri was only able to recover to 10th place. Despite that disappointment for the Australian, his McLaren team were able to secure a first constructors' title since 1998 as team-mate Lando Norris won the race.