3 days ago
Former F1 steward makes 'clear as day' Max Verstappen disqualification demand
Max Verstappen left plenty of people, including one former FIA Formula 1 steward, unimpressed with his seemingly deliberate collision with George Russell in Barcelona
Former Formula 1 race steward Johnny Herbert insists Max Verstappen should have been disqualified after "overstepping the mark" at the Spanish Grand Prix. The Dutchman has been widely criticised for appeared to deliberately bang wheels with George Russell during the Barcelona race.
Angry already with his car's lack of performance, he was infuriated by contact with Charles Leclerc and Russell after a late safety car restart. And, when told to give up a place to the latter, he lost his temper and initiated the contact out of frustration.
He was handed a 10-second penalty which dropped him from fifth place to 10th and dealt a blow to his title hopes. But Nico Rosberg said he should have been disqualified on the live Sky Sports coverage, and Herbert is on the same wavelength as the German.
"Yes, I totally agree with Nico Rosberg, Max Verstappen deserved a black flag and should have been disqualified," the ex-F1 steward told RoobetAlternatives. "There's a point where you have to be hard on the driver when there have been many of these types of incidents.
"Verstappen is the best driver on the track, with the best racecraft and judgement, but there is always a story with him. It's usually some kind of racing incident we all end up talking about with Verstappen, unfortunately.
"It was clear as day that Verstappen's move on George Russell was on purpose. He backed out at the right corner, where he could then attack and retake the place by driving into Russell. To me, that's overstepping the mark."
Speaking after the race, Russell also felt his rival should have been black-flagged for his actions. And the Brit also said it was "a shame" that a four-time F1 champion with the undeniable talent Verstappen has would lose control in the way he did.
Herbert feels the same way and pointed to the Dutchman's glorious race-winning overtake in Imola just two weeks earlier as an example of how Verstappen can go from the sublime to the ridiculous. He added: "The move he made in Imola made me go 'wow', then the move he made in Spain takes away that 'wow', it totally disappears and it's frustrating.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again until I'm blue in the face, Verstappen doesn't need to make these moves. He has the skill to make clear overtakes, and the wheel banging is probably to make a point because of what happened at turn one on the restart with Russell. He felt aggrieved at having to give the place back.
"A black flag is something that could have been thought of by the stewards and the race director, you have to stop this wheel-banging type of racing. Anyone can go and crash into another car, it's totally wrong to purposely bang into a fellow driver. It's happened historically, with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, with Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill, and with Jacques Villeneuve too. In the 1997 incident, Schumacher was banned for the season."
