Verstappen’s violence not a big issue, says Horner

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has defended Max Verstappen’s wild outburst by declaring: “we don’t want robots in Formula One”.

Verstappen, 21, has been sentenced to two days of community service by F1’s sporting federation, the FIA, after he shoved Force India’s Esteban Ocon in the chest three times following Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

The flashpoint came after Ocon crashed into Verstappen as he attempted to unlap himself and cost the Dutchman an almost certain victory at the Interlagos circuit.

Verstappen’s community service could be centred around the FIA’S Action for Road Safety campaign, and must be completed by April of next year.

The young Dutchman attempted to draw a line under the incident by shaking Ocon’s hand in full view of the paddock following their summons to the stewards on Sunday evening.

And while Horner did not condone the use of violence, he did not believe his star driver had overstepped the mark either.

“Drivers aren’t robots and we don’t want them to be,” Horner said. “We have seen in other sports that there is interaction between players, and it’s down to the referee to step in and manage that. I don’t think it got out of hand.

“What I don’t know is what words were exchanged, and how Max wasantagonised.ofcourse we don’t condone violence in any way but you have to understand that emotions are running very high.

“Through the irresponsible actions of a backmarker we’ve lost a grand prix, and it just wasn’t handled at all well by Ocon. It was totally irresponsible to be racing Max.”

The incident on lap 44 cleared the way for Lewis Hamilton to secure his tenth victory of his championship-winning campaign.

Ocon was hit with a tensecond stop-and-go penalty, the harshest punishment available to the stewards other than disqualification.