Esteban Ocon, Max Verstappen, Interlagos, 2018

Ocon calls on FIA to act against “violent” Verstappen

2018 Brazilian Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Esteban Ocon has urged the FIA to take action against Max Verstappen following an altercation between the pair in the pits at Interlagos.

Verstappen was seen repeatedly pushing Ocon. The pair collided during the race while Verstappen was a lap ahead of Ocon, knocking Verstappen into a spin which cost him the lead of the race.

“What I’m really surprised [about] is the behaviour of Max,” said Ocon. “Coming into the scales [area], the FIA need to stop him from being violent, pushing me, wanting to push me, that is not professional.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner defended his driver. “I think Max has been pretty restrained to be honest with you,” he told Sky. “It’s cost him a grand prix victory. He’s driven his heart out with a damaged car.

“Esteban was lucky to get away with a push to be honest with you. The emotions are running high. I told him to get yourself under control on the cool-down lap because he lost a victory through no fault of his own today.”

Ocon said his attempt to overtake Verstappen was justified even though he was not on the same lap.

“I was two laps behind Max,” he said. “The first lap I was a lot faster, the second lap I was a lot faster. I had fresh tyres basically.

“The rules say you can un-lap yourself if you are faster and that’s what I did on the second lap because I still saw I had massive pace. I went around the outside of him, the same move I did on Alonso, the same move I did on many other drivers coming from last in the first lap. But it didn’t happen the same way in the corner after that.”

Ocon was penalised for the on-track collision with Verstappen. The pair have now been summoned to the stewards over the post-race incident.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2018 F1 season

Browse all 2018 F1 season articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

122 comments on “Ocon calls on FIA to act against “violent” Verstappen”

  1. Ah a verstappen with loose hands. That is not a new one.

    1. Esteban? Is that you?
      come up with something new…this one is getting old….

    2. No Jos would knock him out. But Ocon was laughing while taunting Max i think Max was restraint enough. So nothing happened

      1. Show us the footage where OCO was laughing and taunting. I think you’re lying orange. Again.

        1. PL (@maxfornumberone)
          11th November 2018, 22:44

          Lying orange? Just standing there and not immediately saying sorry would perhaps have worked. But no, OCO thought he was right. Why then did he get 3 penalty points? Maybe OCO is smiling blue…

          1. Why then has VER insisted on “being right”, “I did nothing wrong”, “the stewards are stupid”, “the penalty(-system) is stupid”, “they want to destroy racing” etc etc, every time he gets penalized?

            And you still haven’t shown me any footage of a laughing/taunting Ocon.

          2. Why did Ocon get 3 Penalty points?

  2. Didn’t Force India hire extra security for this GP? They should’ve been put in good use here!

  3. And that’s why I said Max’s post-race actions were dumb. On track, he had sympathy from some fans, and the stewards on his side in the ruling against Ocon. Now he’s gone and Vetteled it away.

    Gotta say Ocon played the victim nicely in the video clip I saw :-)

    1. Ha, Vetteled it away. I’ll have to use that.

      1. @phylyp and @viper-au I like how it sounds like whittled and has the same meaning. :D

    2. I think he should have punched him, like in the good old Senna days. Nothing will take away from the fact that he was robbed of a victory today ;)

      1. @magon4 – he overtook the 4 cars of Ferrari and Mercedes on pure merit, on a dry track. Yes, it is a huge huge shame he didn’t get the win :-(

        1. Max was storming during the first half of the race, after that he was pure stommerik.

        2. @Phylyp: “he overtook the 4 cars of Ferrari and Mercedes on pure merit, on a dry track.”
          @Horner: “I told him to get yourself under control on the cool-down lap because he lost a victory through no fault of his own today.”

          The truth is, he could afford to have Ocon ahead of him for a few corners, impatience, that was his fault today.

      2. @magon4, except that, in the case of Senna, Irvine actually overtook him very cleanly – he drove straight past him between 130R and the final chicane – and it seems that a lot of Senna’s ire wasn’t about the way that Irvine overtook him, but simply that he had the nerve to do so in the first place.

        Secondly, Senna was actually rather lucky to get away with just a suspended two race ban for that incident – I don’t think that Red Bull would have been that impressed if he went into 2019 with a similar suspended ban hanging over his head.

    3. No on track sympathy from me for Max. The guy never seems to engage his brain. It was a massive error of judgement in choosing to fight Ocon unlapping himself. Max then seems to push/veer into Ocon. Max threw his own race away. I hope he gets a ban for his post-race obnoxious, violent behavior.

      1. PL (@maxfornumberone)
        11th November 2018, 22:35

        Well Buffy it seems that the professionals disagree with you as Ocon gets 3 penalty points as he is entirely to blame. But off course you will disagree.

        1. PL (@maxfornumberone)
          11th November 2018, 22:58

          The stewards ruled Ocon was entirely to blame for the incident.

          “The driver of car 31 (Esteban Ocon) was a lapped car. The stewards noted that he had new Super Soft tyres. Ocon attempted a pass on the leader, car 33 (Max Verstappen) to un-lap himself at the outside of turn one.

          “The stewards determined that he failed to complete the pass at turn one, and as a lapped car, fought the leader for track position, causing the collision at turn two with the race leader.”

    4. Gotta say Ocon played the victim nicely in the video clip I saw :-)

      @phylyp

      That Ocon is a sneaky little bugger. Always playing the smiley, media friendly and overall nice guy. He does know how to push another driver’s buttons though. He’s pushed Perez’s buttons on a couple of occasions and now he managed Max. He’s also pretty good at playing the victim card in front of cameras. Really really sneaky.

  4. Last time this or similar happened in F1, Fisi and Villeneuve? No penalty. And in fact a lesser incident, where Villeneuve apologised. This response from Verstappen was wrong, and it probably deserves a penalty and some form of reprimand, but I totally understand him and feel there is a place for it.

    1. Not to mention that we used to love this when it was Schumi or Senna or Piquet. Sanitised.

      1. What people admire in other people changes over time. There once was a time when we all thought gangsters were cool, now we think they are losers who screw up the world around them and their own lives. No-one admires the Phil Mitchel thug anymore, most people think they are the most tragical weak people you could possibly find, can’t do your talking on the track, do it with your hands.

      2. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
        11th November 2018, 19:44

        or in Nascar…

        Nah, this is just because Ocon is a popular driver and he is now playing the blameless victim. max was not being too proffesional, but villifying him for this as much as some like to do is a massive overreaction

        we’re still giggling about Piquet’s kick, or Senna straight up punching Irvine.

        Also, I saw the footage, Max was crossing the line, but Ocon very much seemed to be making it worse. he too seemed to be somewhat confrontational, pushed back, and did everything but back down or avoid Max. And now he’s playing the innocent victim, which I think is hypocritical. They should either both be given a reprimand, or be left alone

      3. I’ve explained my feelings a little further down. I like to see passion and sometimes that boils over into physical altercations, which I find “ok”. My trouble here is that Max has already decided to go and “put one” on Ocon, then proceeds to do so. Schumacher/Piquet/Senna stepped out of a car still “hot” and raging when they had their respective punch ups.

        1. Schumi chased Coulthard through the pits in 98. This is the exact same.

          1. @hahostolze – agree to disagree on that one. They crashed, retired the cars and Schumacher went after him immediately. Here, Verstappen and Ocon crashed, half an hour passed, Verstappen told his team on the radio; “I’m going to go and hit him”, he had an interview, then went after him in a calculated move. In my opinion, these aren’t comparable.

          2. agree to disagree – but the crash happened and they stayed in the cars for obvious reasons, Verstappen has to do the mandatory FOM interview and within minutes had confronted Ocon. He never said I’m going to hit him, if it had been that blatant his team would have sent someone with him to stop him. This was as immediate as possible, and similarly uncalculated.

          3. Of course he had to stay in the car and had to do the interview, but that should be enough to cool off.

            Team radio here incidentally, perhaps not as explicitly as I had described above, but I think his intentions are clear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A446FTDuQFI

          4. @ben-n
            Well, how do you like having a ‘discussion’ with an orange, hahahahahaha?
            He states that SCH – COU Spa’98 was exactly the same, which of course isn’t the case bc of, among other things, the things you mentioned. Yet he persists on equating them, which is just ludicrous. Goes on denying a certain radio message from Max (“I hope I can’t find him now in the paddock, bc blablabla”).
            So everything SCREAMS planned, yet he simply denies it when it comes to addressing it.
            If you’ve paid any attention to their comments, you’d be not suprised at all, them just denying straight up facts or fabricating their own.

            These FBoys (like rebelangelfloyd, hahostolze, racefan, robbie, dutchguy, panagiotism-papatheodorou, anunaki, erikje, paeschli, mayrton, david-br, gtisbetter, macleod, rethla) have created some kind of weird little safe place for themselves, in which they can make up all kinds of stuff and not having to deal with reality. I’ve called them out many, many times, and have provided on numerous occasions data-backed comments dismissing their claims and other make-believes, but they’re impervious to any reasoning, bc in their mind, the outcome is already settled: Max was, is and will always be the best, and naturally, is indeed impeccable.

            Have fun, hahahahahhahahah.

      4. @hahostolze, In the case of the Irvine-Senna clash, the contemporary reports from the time suggest that, rather than “loving” him for his behaviour, there were quite a few who thought that Senna was acting like a violent thug and criticised him for his “indefensible” decision to lash out at Irvine.

        It so happened that the former driver Innes Ireland had passed away only a few days before that race, and there were some rather pointed commentaries at the time who drew a rather negative comparison between what they saw as the camaraderie and respect that driver showed each other in the days that Innes raced, versus the lack of respect and even contempt with which they felt Senna was treating other drivers.

        Here, for example, are just a few of the things that were said about Senna at the time:
        “My spies tell me that Ayrton Senna won his bout against Eddie Irvine on points. So, Senna v Bruno? At least, in that arena, Senna could still be classified as a sportsman, something he long since ceased to be in motor racing. His behaviour in Japan was despicable.”

        “All of this was bad enough without the post-race punch. I know that racing drivers have always agreed to disagree, and that there were contentious issues even back in the days upon which we now look as having been ‘golden’, but resorting to pugilism is simply out of order.

        My sincere, if unrealistic, wish is that the FIA should suspend Senna for a whole season…Great driver as he undoubtedly is, Ayrton Senna has revealed too many character flaws for my liking. He simply can not be allowed to carry on running around F1 as though he owned it.”

        “In reality, Irvine did nothing to Senna that Senna wouldn’t have done to anyone else during his early days. Motorsport history is littered with all sorts of examples of Ayrton’s own insouciance and opportunism at a similar stage of his career, not to mention some far more ruthless tactics. […] But then look back to Suzuka 1990, if you want an example of the most infamous piece of cynical, reckless driving the sport has witnessed from a champion. Take that into context, remember that Senna was prepared to pull that kind of stunt to win, and you have the classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.”

        All in all, if anything there seemed to be more sympathy at the time for Irvine instead of Senna, and Senna was the one viewed in a pretty negative light for lashing out at somebody who had dared to give Senna a taste of his own medicine.

        @ben-n, actually, in the case of Senna attacking Irvine, it came quite a bit after the race – Senna had already collected the winners trophy, and I think might have even carried out the post race media interview, before he then went over to attack Irvine. It wasn’t something done in the heat of the moment, but in fact something that he did quite some time after the event.

    2. I don’t think it needs a penalty or reprimand, he’s young and young people are like this. Send him to a mandatory class so he can learn exactly what chemistry is going on in his brain when he loses it and teach him to control it better – once you’ve been to one of those classes and understand what a neanderthal you look like, no-one admires that type of person anymore, he will want to drop it. He doesn’t have anger issues or anything, he’s just a normal young lad who is still learning – and up until that point, impressing me more and more every race.

      1. You are not wrong

    3. @hahostolze 5 years ago Hamilton ran into Bottas who unlapped himself. Same track, very similar situation.

  5. I agree, unacceptable response from Verstappen. Leaving the incident (and any blame) aside, he’s had 25 laps to cool down, the “cool down” room, the podium etc. He said on the radio, “he better hope I don’t find him in the paddock”, so has clearly gone looking for trouble.

    Comparing to something like Schumacher/Coulthard at Spa 1998, Schumacher was still “hot” and you can understand his reaction there. Today, Verstappen has behaved immaturely and deserves some kind of financial penalty in my opinion.

    1. @ben-n

      then look what happened when he found Ocon. https://twitter.com/MaximeB123/status/1061692213288189952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1061692213288189952&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.planet-f1.com%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D3%26t%3D15306%26start%3D120

      this is totally unacceptable. Some of these looked like a big wallop. No matter how good Verstappen is as a driver, I struggle to respect his skills knowing what he’s like out of the car. He is just awful

    2. Actually I am quite sure that this happened long before they ever got to the podium or the cooldown room @ben-n. The drivers are weighed right after they get out of their cars and before the three that are on the podium go up to the cooldown room. So it was Verstappen just getting out of the car and “running into” ocon.

      That said, I agree that some kind of penalty is needed to avoid anyone getting the impression that it is normal or acceptable to do this. In that light, I really cannot fathom the reaction from Horner (quoted in the article). I think some kind of community service would be best, I can see some reason for penalty points, maybe a reprimand as well.

      1. Fair point, @bascb, thanks.

        I think my point still stands though – they collide, 30 minutes pass, he tells the team “I’m going to go and hit him” over the radio, he has an interview and then proceeds to find Ocon. Pre-meditated and certainly not in the heat of the moment.

        A shame, because it’s thrilling to watch his driving.

    3. @ben-h From the video it appeared to be straight after the race during weigh in. He disappeared during the interviews.

      1. Apologies, seems to be a delay on the comments I’m reading.

  6. Well I thought Max gave Ocon no room and the coming together was because Ocon would have had to leave the track to miss him…but I concede that it was Ocon to avoid…Max not handling the pressure of Lewis????..however Max should not have pushed Ocon at the scales in public and the camera..thats assault….similarly Christian should not comment that encourages that behaviour…….Think Max may regret that one…but lets see what the stewards say….any driver should be safe from bullying and assaults in whatever sport.

    1. So hè deserves the same penalty as Vettel got yesterday? Some money and that’s it.

    2. It’s Christians job to spin the PR machine for his drivers, and you’ll not find a person so blind as the one paid not to see.

      1. Thats a great reply….

    3. Fully agree with regarding the comment from Horner; it’s one thing to back your driver in the incident and criticize Ocon for the on track action, and even say that he can understand Verstappen’s post-race reaction, but you shouldn’t even imply that you support your driver being aggressive with a competitor, that’s just not on.

    4. AntonioCorleone
      11th November 2018, 20:54

      If i was in his Max’s place I would have hit Ocon with the helmet until someone stopped me. Some people on this page dont get how emotional it is driving the car like Max did, passed 2 Ferraris and 2 Mercedes and some backmarker with ties to Mercedes who has no seat for next season hits you which puts all that superb driving and all those passes to waste and makes you lose the race… I personaly might have killed him actually.

      1. I can see this post being used in a school shooting court case in a few years

    5. Max doesn’t learn. He closes the door in wheel to wheel repeatedly leading to collision, and conversely expected Kimi to leap out his way.

      He did it on Vettel in Suzuka, when Vettel had much to lose, and was unperturbed when Vettel lost a lot.

      I said at the time it is not the act of a future WC, because over a season these avoidable collisions cost too much.

      He did it today, when he had everything to lose, and nothing to gain. Pointless risk, as Hamilton pointed out.

    6. @jop452 Ocon had no business or right to put himself into a position where a crash would be rather inevitable to happen anyway since he was a full lap down after having just gotten lapped. He should’ve backed off earlier, and thus, create distance to Verstappen at T1 at the very latest if not on the long run down to that corner already.

  7. Christian Horner and Marko, you both are WEAK LEADERS and have absolutely no courage. Times and times again, you both encourage and approve Max’s poor attitudes, conducts and this final act of his towards Ocon show that you both have low standards on decent behaviours. You have no control over Max. No matter how often you say Max is a winner, the reality is, s today has shown, he is not. He is second!

    Bad leaders breed bad drivers.

  8. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
    11th November 2018, 19:40

    People still giggling about NASCAR brawls or Senna straight up punching Irvine, but this is too much? of course it wasn’t too proffesional, but Ocon is now just being a bit of a whiny ass

    1. @justarandomdutchguy

      To my left is a TV with the NASCAR race. The race itself is less than five miles from me. I hate half the field and I want them to “duke it out” on the track, as it were, where the walls are “SAFER” (literally called “SAFER Barrier”) than the concrete of decades past and the wheels are covered so nobody is flying into the air (not a super speedway).

      I would probably be “excited” if a pair of drivers tangled off track after the race, but I’d also be “excited” if someone mugged me. “Exciting” does not mean something I necessarily like. It’s also been a very long time since I’ve watched a post-race in NASCAR where fisticuffs happened and in general I don’t like the people who are the aggressors. Strangely, those people (Austin Cindric, Todd Gilliland) are also related to racing blood, have incredible talent and love driving into others just like Maxi.

  9. Get in there Max!
    Ocon is cheeky and disrespectful he should have apologized and behaved humbly. Ocon and his team principal are clearly low class individuals, very disappointing.
    No surprises from Max, that’s his style. Ocon though what an idiot.

  10. The move by Ocon was Absurd.
    He should not drive a F1 car ever again.

  11. Looks like Max has had a bit too much Red Bull… That lad needs to calm down… I hope he gets a slap on the wrist – he’s already paid plenty by loosing out on a probable win.

  12. It is my opinion that Verstappen should receive a race ban. Enough is enough..

    1. oh, come on!

    2. It is my opinion that Verstappen should receive a medal. Enough is enough..

      FTFY.

      1. “This medal has been awarded to Max Verstappen for riling up people just as much as Hamilton or Vettel.”

        Good job to him. If he didn’t make people defend him so ignorantly he wouldn’t have the same potential to be as great as anyone. Have you noticed that? The greats always have to defend themselves after doing dumb stuff.

    3. I agree with spa.

      1 race ban, and he will learn to hold his horses. Noone goes and push or punch him when he clearly cost some drivers massive points! This is not the first time max was out of control but first time he carried out of the race!

    4. Sorry, but that is just preposterous. We had Vettel with road rage hitting cars just last year and he got nothing more than a 5 second penalty for it. And you want to punish Max for something that clearly was not posing any physical danger to anyone with a race ban @spafrancorchamps?

      Surely a penalty is needed. Be it financial, some kind of community service, having to apologize to Ocon publicly, or going towards penalty points (remember Max already has quite a few of those) and or a reprimand. But a race ban just for this is completely out of the ballpark.

      1. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
        12th November 2018, 10:35

        well, he got community service, which I think might be the best penalty they could come up with. Tells Verstappen they don’t want to see this kind of behaviour, without interfering with the remainder of the season. His behaviour was over the limit, but we’ve seen people get lesser penalties(than a race ban) for worse behaviour, so this seems proportionate

  13. Violence is not a solution.

  14. I don’t know anymore. Maybe he does deserve some form of penalty just to get his head straight. The thing is, Verstappen had just driven another absolutely brilliant race. This is the umpteenth time an issue has detracted from just how well he drives. He’s already the second best driver in F1. But this sort of stuff keeps getting in the way. It can’t be a coincidence any more. And I wonder what it is about him that attracts all this. Is it the inferior car he compensates for? Just a naturally combative personality (see dad)? Or what else?

    1. He’s also incredibly young. I think it’s easy to forget he’s just turned 21.

      Disappointing to see him handle himself outside of the car poorly. He’s understandably frustrated, but giving into anger like that will take him down his father’s path, and that’s not one filled with WDCs and champagne.

    2. Perhaps they should line up all the drivers Max has wrecked the races of over his short career and allow then to smack him one him in turn… Although I’m sure Horner would then say that violence is not the solution…

      1. I think you’ll find that Max has never been in the wrong.

        1. Unless my memory fails me, 2 penalty points in China and 2 in Italy for collisions, 7 this year and the all time highest number of penalty points (equal to Grosjean) at 19 for his career would suggest that you are slightly wrong there… ;-)

    3. It’s been more than 30 years that a raceleader was pushed of the track by a behinder. Verstappen’s lost a certain victory because of this blunt action of Ocon who didn’t appologize, just saying that he had the right to unlap himself while smirking at Verstappen in the paddock. He just asked for it.

    4. Honestly @hahostolze, I think that just like @maximilian mentions, he is young and still has to learn life’s lessons. In that sense it is interesting to see what Hamilton had to say to Max in the cooldown room (parafrased) – “yeah, he should not have lunged. But you were the one with more to lose, so you should have given him more room to avoid getting hit” – it is the same lesson that Vettel seemed not yet to have learnt that lost him the championship, even though he has vastly more experience than Max.

      1. @bascb you are entirely correct. I didn’t like Hamilton’s comments straight out of the car (like he deserved the win and Verstappen threw it away) but in the cooldown room, that was absolutely bang on. I still think that Ocon is entirely at fault, but a smarter driver than Verstappen realises that this is not the time to assume your opponent will be the one making all the right and sensible moves. Verstappen needs to learn that and right quick.

        1. I agree with you there. It seemed like Hamilton thought it was Verstappen doing the passing and giving too little room, at least when he spoke with Di Resta outside.

          Let’s hope Verstappen learns that wisdom as fast as he has been picking up during the last 3 years and not ends up losing a championship partly due to his own road rage or unfortunate tangle spinning the car while in his 10th season in the sport (2008 was his first full season right?).

          1. That would make his 11th season.

            Love to see oranges confirming to one another Max is the 2nd best driver (already nontheless, hahahahhah). So that would make RIC the best? Beaten him 3 times in a row now, even when he’s no member of the family anymore, getting lemons to drive with and being excluded from (de)briefings.
            Just bc hahostolze keeps repeating to himself that VER is the (2nd) best, doesn’t make it anymore true.

            Ziggo.

          2. @krxx

            Beaten him at what? Because if we’re discussing the standings, Verstappen is so far ahead of Ricciardo that it’s not mathematically possible to be leapfrogged by him anymore this season.

      2. @bascb i think if he continues this attitude of “entitled” and carry the anger like he did, he ll get what is coming for him sooner than later…

        He messed up other racers’ races more serious than his situation “aka wdc contenders’ races” yet, he always felt blameless and i dont remember anyone pushed it more than with verbal abuse…

        He like vettel put themselves in situations like this and try to float like olive oil on top of water!

        1. @mysticus. Sure. That is why I don’t think there is any need for an extreme reaction from the FIA (they never corrected Vettel for all the rage moments he’s had over the years. Remember him actually verbally abusing Whiting on the radio? The one were in the end he didn’t even have to really apologize).

          If they give him a penalty point, Max will be closing in on a race ban anyway. He can cut out doing this kind of stuff and race on as he can do amongst the best out there. Or he doesn’t and then he overtakes Grosjean for highest amount of points on his licence and might even get a race ban for it. Or he could get a reprimand bringing him closer to a race ban.

    5. The problem is with the other drivers not willing to except that he’s faster. So they give him less room, defend harder and play straight up dirty (Lewis cut Max’s tyre earlier in the year) and this French idiot should receive a race ban for deliberately interfering with the race results. Let’s hope Bottas can be ahead of Lewis in the championship when it’s time for Mercedes to hand out a contract. That might well be the last we’ve seen of the sorry French loser (Prost+ Balestre VS Senna Comes to mind…).

      1. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
        12th November 2018, 10:38

        TBH, Verstappen messes up himself quite often too. In China, for example, he threw it all away because he dived into what was half a space at best, a mere race after being at least 50% to blame for a coming together with Hamilton, not to mention, his role in the Baku accident was pretty bad as well.

  15. If Max ever finds a reason to punch number 44 he should be knighted. Go on Max give him a black eye.

    1. This type of mindless comment belongs on twitter with the rest of the braindead…

    2. I don’t understand comments like this. Why??

    3. Just when I think few of the Max’s fans couldn’t get any more toxic, they never fail to raise the bar.

    4. @markp why? Black and not purple? Is it because he is black? Like ali g said? Or are you racist troll?

      1. No such phrase as a purple eye. Black eye is the proper turn and nothing to do with race, number 44 is not black. Very easy to accidently melt snowflakes these days.

        1. He certainly melted you! I suspect that was a post deliberately to trigger you.

          1. @william jones almost cried laughing :) he didnt get the trolling joke… well at least ali g knew!

      2. @mysticus because it’s called a black eye. That’s just the phrase in English…

    5. As I recall, Lewis has a black belt in some martial art or other and he boxes as a part of his work out routine, so I think Max would end up on the wrong side of a physical confrontation.

      1. Good point and he has gold chains to strangle him with. Yeah Max wouldnt want to get on the wrong side of number 44’s type.

        1. @markp well max got on the wrong side of lewis in a race, and he ended up with a puncture rather than “purple” eye… also in the back room, max got a comment from lewis, that max himself was so proudly mocking others to be careful around him, which shut him up neatly… he was still mumbling how he was blameless as always…

          1. I think Max can take number 44, needs to give it a try. Massa used to have number 44 rattled outside the car.

        2. Fudge Kobayashi (@)
          12th November 2018, 10:32

          If Max acts like a petulant 11 year old, you can’t really expect his fans to be much different.

          I genuinely think Markp is a child from these comments, go and do something productive lad. Too much internetting for you today.

    6. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
      12th November 2018, 10:41

      no. just no….

  16. Crashstappen getting arrogant just like smacher.

  17. Actually, Ocon has some ground for making these claims. Back in Brasil 2013 GP, Hamilton collided with Bottas (lol) who was attempting to unlap himself from Hamilton. However, Hamilton crossed his line in braking zone and both collided. And it was Hamilton who received a stop&go penalty altought he was a lap ahead (but was responsible for collision). So, I am quite surprised how hard and quickly stewards penalised Ocon for this, because fact is (had they raced for position) that Verstappen just closed the door and turned into him.

    Here is link to article about the crash, if someone can´t remember.
    https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/111583/hamilton-baffled-by-bottas-accident

    1. +1
      Very true. VER has nothing to put the blame on but his own race craft. It was a racing incident at best (from the point of view of VER).

      And HAM was being his usual arrogant and lying self in front of the Sky camera, claiming he, unlike VER, doesn’t make mistakes with backmarkers.

      1. @krxx yup ham went to bottas and knocked him out after the race as well… saying things and doing things are different… max did say over the radio that he will hit ocon during the race, and he kept his promise so technically he is in the right… am i right?

    2. The problem is, they weren’t racing for position. Since Ocon’s camera appears to not be archived via F1TV, I can only comment on Max’s camera. But as Ocon goes to the outside of T1, he appears to back out before cutting back into T2. The reality is that Ocon was taking a tighter line to the inside of 2 while Verstappen mistakenly assumed Ocon was ceding ground and turned into the apex.

      I think the incident itself is clearly Ocon’s fault but I’m disappointed by Verstappen’s response, especially once the gloves came off.

  18. Verstupid if you ask me. He could have won the race if he had been a little more careful at that particular moment. He gave Esteban no room. It was a risk he didn’t need to take. And then the shoving afterwards, pathetic…

    1. Bonus points for you for “Verstupid”. It wasn’t Max’s fault but he took a needless risk. Ocon was no threat to Max’s win; he should have let him go. Smart drivers would know who to race and who not to race.

  19. OMG, this is the First Time in F1 History, when a race’s leader didn’t win because of some accident with other driver on track! Unbelievable!
    Of course such injustice necessitates a true show of male’s brute force to deal with all unjust…
    apparently in the form of “pushing”… sissy. Either hit properly, or be mature enough to keep yourself calm.

    After this I have lost the last bits of respect towards Verstappen. Stupid upstart.

  20. Yes, Ocon was definitely at fault for the on-track incident and was duly penalized, but what Max did after the race is simply disgusting and childish. It may appear entertaining to some fans (that the drivers are no robots, have emotions etc etc), but it does depict a dismal picture of F1 community to the outside world.

    FIA should not tolerate such brute attack on a fellow competitor – that’s my personal opinion. Max must get the message that such kind of disgraceful behavior is not ‘on’ in Formula 1.

  21. Put it this way.

    If these were two Force Indias racing for position, then the team would blame Ocon.

    He wasn’t able to get it done through the middle of turn 1 and was never going to get ahead going into turn 2.

    1. Wrong! In all cases the Team / Media / Sissy Ocon and his fans have blamed Perez on similar incidents.
      Otmar Szafnauer would be saying – as he said last time – you have to give room to your teammate
      So no, not even in that scenario would poor old victim Ocon be blamed.

  22. It was a great race, close and tense, but the Ocon incident ruined it for me. Max was driving fantastic, and was leading with a good margin. Ocon was just lapped and had more speed on the straight, and attacking just like he was in second place, he was not, he was one lap down, and in 13th place. I don’t understand this ‘max-hate’ here on the forum, Max is an exciting driver, agressive, passionate and absolutely fearless. He is also currently collecting a great amount of points and driving good races. This race should have been his, before the race started he did not expected to be on the podum. And he was dominating the field. Ocon should have been black-flagged, he directly influenced the outcome of the race, and worse still; did not accept any blame. If he had apologized, then there would not have been an brawl. That said; Max has a temper, not as bad as his dad, but still.. and he was very, very angry. Perhaps all other posters were all very calm, cool and collected at 21 years, but Max is very driven and ambitious. The altercation with Ocon was wrong, but it should be seen in context, Max was fuming, and Esteban was not exactly taking any blame.
    What Lewis said in the Cooldown room, was absolutely true, but he is older, more experienced and wiser; what would he have done when he was 21?
    Anyway; it still was a great race; and Max again showed what he can do with a car that is third fastest, and damaged…

    1. I dislike Verstappen – always have – yet punching Ocon for his ‘cutesy boy’ routine having done something as stupid as not 100% cleanly overtaken the leader is entirely justified. At the end of the day, all he did is shove him a bit. Commendable self restraint all things considered.

    2. Orange-like reasoning, hahahahahhahah. Black flagged?? And third fastest car? If that’s the case, why hasn’t he been able to do this in many other races this year? Or would wbravenboer argue that in those races VER had a car slower then (some of) the midfield and lesser cars? Hahahahahahhahahhahaha.

      Ziggo.

      1. … Orange-like reasoning …

        Your Orange Obsession is starting to get a little bit embarassing, krxx.

  23. So instead of taking it like a man and sincerely apologizing because of screwing Max out of a win he tries again to screw him over by trying to make the FIA take action, well that says a lot about the intention of the first incident. Not very smart of Ocon when Max in the future could have a say who he wants to be his team mate when being in a top team.

  24. Another shameful reaction of CrashMax, a driver who has become the worst driver of formula 1. Not driving, but from the sporting point of view.
    Of course the “holigans” fans will be happy with their bravado on and off the track, but sooner or later this lousy sportsman will pay for his dishonest acts.

    1. It’s not like Max hit him on purpose with his car while behind the safety car

      We went directly to him like a man

  25. He should’ve punched him in the face. But he didn’t.

    I know some greats from back in the days that would’ve

  26. There must be a bunch of people here who do not like Verstappen and by default will never take his side. Otherwise, I do not see how anyone could ever justify Ocon’s actions. Anyone that tries justify Ocon’s right to defend his position cannot be taken seriously.

  27. Ocon lost only 1.5 secs per lap compared to the front. Clearly he had the pace to fight with the tier 1 teams. A well deserved 14th place. Not a great fighter though. I would recommend Formula E for next year.

  28. Ocon is clearly the better wingman for Hamilton than Bottas.

  29. Max should have been given a one race ban for his unsportsmanlike behaviour but hey the FIA won’t touch him because they know once Hamilton retires all that F1 will have left will be Ricciardo’s smile and Max’s bratish , bullying, points throwing away driving style. If the FIA want to hold this thuggish brat up as the face of the pinnacle of Motorsport then what’s left of their moral compass and F1 in general is headed south .

Comments are closed.