Pushy Verstappen penalised
FORMULA One stewards have ordered Max Verstappen to do two days of public service for an angry confrontation with Force India’s Esteban Ocon after a collision that cost the Red Bull driver victory in Brazil yesterday.
Verstappen was leading at Interlagos when he tried to pass backmarker Ocon, who tried to retake the position but instead made contact.
The impact sent the 21year-old Dutchman into a spin and allowed five-times world champion Lewis Hamilton to win for Mercedes.
The Red Bull driver was seen on television angrily confronting Ocon after the race and giving him a shove.
He was unrepentant when asked about it later.
“We are passionate about the sport, right?” he said. “It would be odd if I would shake his hand.”
Verstappen dismissed those who said he had taken things too far, adding: “I don’t care what those people say.”
Stewards said after summoning both drivers that the public service had to be carried out at the governing FIA’s direction within the next six months.
They said Verstappen, “following a few words, started an altercation, pushing or hitting Ocon forcefully several times in the chest”.
They accepted his explanation he had not intended originally to hit Ocon but had lost his temper.
“While sympathetic to Verstappen’s 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,” stewards said.
They had handed Ocon a 10sec stop/go penalty for causing the collision — a sanction Force India team boss Otmar Szafnauer was predictably unhappy about.
“I don’t think Max left him any room,” Szafnauer told Sky Sports television. “You’re allowed to unlap yourself. He asked us, ‘can I unlap myself’. And we said, ‘yeah, go ahead’.”
Ocon also pitched in, saying Verstappen’s post-race behaviour was out of order.
“What I am really surprised about is the behaviour of Max. The FIA having to stop him from being violent, pushing me and wanting to punch me and that is not professional,” he said.