Max Verstappen Forced To Do 'Public Service' After Post-Race Shove
All sorts of bizarre things happened during the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix. First, we had Sebastian Vettel accidentally destroying a weighbridge during qualifying (below), but the weekendâs weirdest moment was yet to come.
During the race, Esteban Ocon - two laps down but going quickly on softer tyres - took a lunge up the inside of Max Verstappenâs Red Bull in an attempt to unlap himself. Thatâs not against the rules, but the Dutchman clearly wasnât expecting to see a pink Force India appear to his right, and the pair collided.
Both were able to continue, but the contact cost Verstappen the lead of the race, effectively handing the win to Lewis Hamilton. Max wasnât happy, and in Parc Ferme the 21-year-old was filmed shoving Ocon several times, giving us our third weird moment of the GP.
The stewards took a dim view of the incident, ordering Verstappen to complete two days of âpublic serviceâ as penance. In a statement, the FIA said:
âThe Stewards held a hearing, in which both drivers acted appropriately and cooperated with the Stewards. The Stewards understood from Max Verstappen that he was extremely upset by the incident on track and accepted his explanation that it was not his original intent to strike Ocon, but that he was âtriggeredâ and caused him to lose his temper.
âWhile sympathetic to Verstappenâs passion, the Stewards determined that it is the obligation of sportsmen at this level to act appropriately and as role models to other drivers at all levels and found that Verstappen failed in this respect.
âThe Stewards therefore ordered that Max Verstappen is required to perform two days of public service at the direction of the FIA within six months of the incident.â
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was quick to defend his driver. âI think Max has been pretty restrained. Itâs cost him a Grand Prix victory,â he told Sky Sports F1, adding, âEsteban was lucky to get away with a push, to be honest with youâ. Ouch.
Ocon branded Verstappenâs behaviour as âViolent and unprofessional,â while the latter claimed Esteban âwas being a pussyâ. Things seemed to have calmed down between the drivers since those comments - they were later seen shaking hands in the paddock.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
If FIA do his job, they should penalise Vettel for have inspired the Oconâs move by hitting the cone (sarcastic)
im honestly confused as to why Ocon did that. he was already 2 laps down,
a 3rd doesnt really count does it?
A driver may unlap himself should he so wish.. Ocon was faster on track at that moment.
Max was thinking âheâs gonna stop because Iâm winningâ. But this is Ocon. Heâs a fighter
I agree. Neither driver acted in their interests. Ocon would have been better off staying behind Verstappen and possibly preying on anyone else Max laps. And Verstappen would have been better off not fighting as hard - he was ahead of Hamilton on newer softer tyres so it would have been an easy win anyway. Put it this way, Verstappen had everything to lose and Ocon had nothing to gain.
Donât forget who powers Force India and what was on the line.
I have a conspiracy theory; Wolff has radio ordered Ocon in the past, so he probably ordered Ocon to crash into Max, to make sure Lewis got the win⊠just sayingâŠ
Without entering the argument whoâs right and whoâs wrong - Iâm just happy to see passion back in F1 especially after the titles have been decided
I donât watch F1, can somebody explain why people say itâs Oconâs fault? To me it looks like he had the inside and Max turned into him
Ocon was LAPPED
It is Oconâs fault but that doesnât mean Verstapen can push him, I mean there is a good number of young audience and he couldâve talked with Ocon, not just get aggressive with Checo, what he isnât what I call sportsmanship and Verstapen has ruined many racers races and it about time he got one of his races ruined⊠What a shameâŠ. I am disappointed 😔😔
I think the accident was handled fairly. Itâs the shoving Ocon that disappointed me the most..
A true sportsman would stay calm and talk, instead of being physical for no reason⊠Heâs just being the petulant child that he is
I donât agree with Verstappenâs reaction but I do think that Ocon shouldâve thought about his actions a bit more before he attacked. It wouldnât be as much of a big deal if that was a genuine battle for a top position but coming in two laps behind a pulling that seems kind of rushed or just not thought out
This is why I donât watch F1 the stewards are such nannies and the drivers are all babies. Verstappen has every right to annoyed with ocon and the stewards shouldnât get in the way of the drivers showing some really emotion unlike most of the time where they are just robots.
yeah, but if you allow for one, you are allowing for everyone below.
That means fights would be a common thing
Something interesting happened in F1!
If he was obviously faster, and he posed no threat to Max, why didnât he just let him by in the corner? Did he just not know his position prior to that?
Yet another reason why formula drift is better
No