Calls for F1 'farce' to be abolished after Oscar Piastri robbed of top honour by Max Verstappen
F1 fans are calling for the controversial 'driver of the day' award to be scrapped altogether after it went to Max Verstappen rather than Oscar Piastri at the Spanish Grand Prix. Piastri produced another brilliant drive to win his fifth race of the season, with teammate Lando Norris completing a 1-2 for McLaren.
It was the seventh race out of nine won by a McLaren driver this season, with Piastri and Norris asserting their dominance. But somewhat inexplicably, Piastri has only won one 'driver of the day' honour despite his five victories.
On Sunday it went to Verstappen despite the Red Bull driver finishing 10th after copping a 10-second penalty for deliberately colliding with George Russell. Verstappen started in P3 and crossed the finish line fifth, before he was relegated to 10th on the back of the penalty.
But fans still thought he was good enough to get driver of the day, completely robbing Piastri of the top honour. Driver of the day is a fan-voted award, and previously resulted in the winner getting an extra point in the championship.
Officials have clearly seen the error in their ways and scrapped the bonus point, but many believe the whole award should be abolished. The farcical nature of the award is epitomised by the fact Verstappen has now won two this season, compared to one for Piastri.
The Aussie is currently on 186 points in the driver standings, 10 ahead of Norris and 51 ahead of Verstappen. But fans reckon Verstappen has been more worthy of the driver of the day honour than Piastri. The fact he received the honour on Sunday after a controversial drive involving a number of incidents sparked outrage on social media.
One person wrote: "Laughable. The sooner driver of the day is scrapped the better." Another commented: "Driver of the day is a farce. No way in hell Max deserved it over Piastri."
While a third added: "This driver of the day thing is bulls**t. Oscar Piastri is top of the world drivers championship, has won 5 races, 4 poles and only has one driver of the day. What a joke."
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On Sunday, Verstappen received 19.7 per cent of the vote, compared to 14.5 per cent for Piastri. Many thought Nico Hulkenberg was most deserving of driver of the day after his fifth-place finish, but he only got 10.6 per cent of the vote.
Driver of the day is a farce. No way in hell Max deserved it over Piastri.
— Brandon (@CFCpages) June 1, 2025
Laughable.The sooner driver of the day is scrapped the better.
— Robin (@Blinkfan180) June 1, 2025
What a joke! @fia is this the road rage driver of the day award? Or the I didn't get the proper penalty when I cashed another car award? @MercedesAMGF1 @GeorgeRussell63 pic.twitter.com/115taLEJgJ
— Andre C (@andrejunior76) June 2, 2025
Max still got driver of the day, what a joke! 🤣
— Shogan Manuel George (@ShoganG) June 2, 2025
Verstappen has since admitted he did the wrong thing when he deliberately collided with Russell. The Dutch driver was frustrated that his team had left him on hard, slower tyres, and initially looked as though he was letting Russell overtake after his team ordered him to do so.
But just as Russell was going around him, Verstappen sped up and speared into the Mercedes driver. The defending world champion is now just one penalty point away from receiving a race ban.
"Our tyre choice to the end and some moves after the safety car restart fuelled my frustration, leading to a move that was not right and shouldn't have happened," he wrote on social media on Monday. "I always give everything out there for the team and emotions can run high. You win some together, you lose some together. See you (at the next race) in Montreal."
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