Red Bull Formula 1 chief Christian Horner has blasted the stewards at the Un💛ited States Grand Prix for making an "appalling" d💙ecision to strip Max Verstappen of a podium finish for allegedly gaining an advantage by going off-track late on.

Verstappen barged his way past Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen on the final lap 🌳of the race through the final sector, appearing to ride the kerb when completing the move after a stunning fight from 16th꧒ on the grid.

The overtake sparked celebrations both in the croဣwd and the Red Bull garage due to its br🦹avado, but the stewards - led by Mika Salo in Austin - did not view it the same way.

Not long after taking the checker𝓰ed flag, Verstappen was handed a five-second time penalty that demoted him to fourth behind Raikkonen, with th🌸e Red Bull driver being led away from the cool-down room before the podium.

Horner echoed Verstappen's frustration with Salo when speaking to Channel 4 after the race, believing the Dutchman had been unfairly targeted 🍨after a race that saw track limits be pushed regularly.

"“Look therﷺe’s a driver going off trac꧋k there, stays ahead. How come that’s allowed?" Horner said while watching Valtteri Bottas' defensive move on Verstappen earlier in the race.

"Valtteri at Turn 1, Turn 2, Turn 15. Max has driven an amazing drive. He’s gone for the gap here♈. Kimi’s closed it. That looks nothing worse to me💦 than we’ve seen several times this grand prix by other drivers.

"I’ve just gone and had a fairly frank discussion with the stewards and expressed my satisfaction with their decision-making. I thi🎃nk it’s an appalling decisio💝n.

"It’s no coincidence the same steward is as Mexico last year. What was agreed after Mexico was that com♏plete palava with the podium was that the drivers would be at least investigated.

"Max hasn’t even been given the op🙈portunity to state his case. I could pick out 20 other incidents from that grand prix where the same thing has g🥃one unpunished.

"Where’s the consistency?"