Verstappen given community service for Ocon shove
MAX VERSTAPPEN has been sentenced to two days of community service by Formula One’s governing body after he shoved Esteban Ocon following Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Verstappen, furious with Ocon after their collision denied the Red Bull driver a fine win at Interlagos, squared up to the Frenchman as he was about to be weighed, before pushing him three times.
FIA officials had to jump in and restrain Ocon from retaliating.
Verstappen, who finished second to Lewis Hamilton, was found guilty of “starting an altercation, pushing or hitting Ocon forcefully”, and failing to “act as a role model to drivers of all levels”.
As such, the Dutchman must now serve two days of work of “public interest” at the FIA’s request within the next six months.
Verstappen was seething with rage after his collision with Ocon on lap 44. Ocon, one lap down on the Dutchman and in 16th place, went wheel-to-wheel with the race leader at 220mph, before he banged into the right-rear of Verstappen’s car through the Senna Esses, sending him into a race-losing spin.
“What a f ****** idiot,” Verstappen fumed over the radio before he recovered to finish less than two seconds behind Hamilton.
Following their explosive altercation, Ocon, who was hit with a 10-second stop-and-go penalty during the race called Verstappen a “lunatic” on French TV and stood by his move. He said: “That is not a professional way of handling things. I would do the same again.”
Verstappen said: “He [Ocon] has always been an idiot. I was trying to do my job, and then suddenly a backmarker is racing you and taking stupid risks.”
Verstappen’s Red Bull team principal Christian Horner added: “Max has been pretty restrained. It cost him a grand prix victory. Esteban was lucky to get away with just a push.”