Max Verstappen will work with FIA stewards at this weekend’s Formula E race in Morocco as part of the ‘public service’ punishment for his behaviour at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver will attend the event which takes place at the Moulay El Hassan circuit in Marrakech, Eracing365 has revealed.“Max Verstappen will attend the Marrakech Eprix as a result of the stewards’ decision at the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix,” the FIA said in a statement.
“Verstappen will spend the day as an observer to the stewards, closely following their work at a top-level international motor sport event as part of three educational and informative approach taken by the FIA in this matter.”
Verstappen was ordered to “perform two days of public service at the direction of the FIA” after repeatedly shoving Esteban Ocon following the race, which took place two months ago today. Ocon had collided with Verstappen while being lapped by the race leader.
The stewards ruled Verstappen had committed “acts prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally” by pushing Ocon.
Verstappen is due to arrive at the circuit in time for the beginning of activities for the second round of the 2018-19 Formula E season tomorrow.
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ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
11th January 2019, 16:51
Formula E is the Gulag in F1 world.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
11th January 2019, 17:04
@ruliemaulana LOL!
stefano (@alfa145)
11th January 2019, 17:38
loool
Paul Heppler (@paulheppler)
11th January 2019, 22:58
Just what I was thinking.
I hope this is at his own expense.
Next days penance … make him drive the Fe car , Red Bull livery , all around the Dutch track , full charge to fully discharged and make him walk back home, by himself.
MaliceCooper
11th January 2019, 18:54
If he offends again they’ll have him back to drive one of the cars
James Mayo (@jsmayo)
11th January 2019, 19:17
:-D
FERCSA (@fercsa)
11th January 2019, 20:24
Comment of the day! :D
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
11th January 2019, 17:01
*sigh* Another non-punishment… Might as well charged him £100k
GechiChan (@gechichan)
11th January 2019, 20:01
i say make him race the FE car, that would be a real punishment! He wont complain about his RBR straighline speed anytime soon.
GeeMac (@geemac)
11th January 2019, 17:18
So being “sent to Formula E” is the F1 equivalent of being “sent to Coventry”…who knew?
Unicron (@unicron2002)
11th January 2019, 20:48
@geemac On that note, if Verstappen had been sent to the Coventry ring road at rush hour then it’s unlikely he would ever be a naughty again!
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
11th January 2019, 17:19
Poor guy! I hope he recovers quickly from such a HORRIBLE weekend holiday.
JV
12th January 2019, 11:27
He travels around the world for 9 months of the year. I’m sure he’d prefer to stay at home at that point. All about perspective.
Wayne
11th January 2019, 17:28
Now that sets a precident…
Edward Hunter (@edster)
11th January 2019, 17:29
Should have sent Verstappen to the season opener in Saudi Arabia, showed him the prison cells where the government keeps and abuses dissidents; that kind of threat would keep him in check I bet. Fetching tea and biscuits for the stewards doesn’t quite cut it.
BasCB (@bascb)
11th January 2019, 19:16
This comment! :-) @edster
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
11th January 2019, 18:31
I thought he had covered this off by attending the FIA end of season Banquette and Prize session.??
erikje
11th January 2019, 18:37
ehh. NO?
TdM (@tdm)
11th January 2019, 23:08
Come now, don’t let facts get in the way…
Paul Heppler (@paulheppler)
11th January 2019, 23:08
You new here? New to F1?
Everyone has their own opinion of the on-track incident, the personal stuff is what Jean the Toad is punishing him for.
erikje
12th January 2019, 12:45
it has nothing to do with opinion.. it’s just not what happened.
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
11th January 2019, 18:38
Having read this a little more carefully ….
“Ocon had collided with Verstappen while being lapped by the race leader.”
Would this not be more correct if it indicated that Ocon was attempting to pass the race leader to un-lap himself, and there was a collision.
Paul Heppler (@paulheppler)
11th January 2019, 23:20
That is EXACTLY as I saw that …as most others did.
Why did Max think Estabon was a threat to him?
Poor communication between Max and Christian?
None-the-less, the deeds were done.
Max crossed the line of the FIA’s acceptable conduct (after the race) and now pays the price.
Matn
12th January 2019, 9:15
Exactly what happened if Verstappen wouldn;t have been a raceleader… sure there are hardcore fans who refuse to see a backmarker is simply not allowed to fight a raceleader, but that’s just pickin’ on details.
A backmarker is only allowed to overtake the raceleader if he can pull away immediately after, he may, in no way influence the raceleaders race. People say Verstappen faught Ocon… but he simply wasn’t, Verstappen chose his line wich he had every right to as a raceleader. Ocon pushing it a bit extra between corner 1 and 2 is what made them collide.
This wasn’t a simple raceincident, it was a backmarker racing the raceleader for personal reasons.
The incident was this unique anything similar never occured in over 50 years of F1 racing…still people insist Verstappen should have known better.
After he race Verstappen being quite mad ofcourse came up to Ocon, who just simply laughed in his face saying ‘I was faster’. Max wasn’t having any of this and touched him… Ocon touched back and was screaming ‘get the camera’s here’ and ‘push me, push me, push me’. Max fell for it…wich might be very wrong, but ow boy Ocon lost a lot of peoples respect just then and there, what a snake.
CarWars (@maxv)
12th January 2019, 9:26
Ocon being French explains the snake part
anon
12th January 2019, 14:32
Matn, you might claim that “anything similar never occured in over 50 years of F1 racing”, but in fact it was a pretty common occurrence in the past.
I mean, Rene Arnoux was notorious for the way that he would aggressively challenge people trying to pass him – especially Prost, whom he was rather jealous of – to the point where Berger once deliberately got Arnoux to take him out of the lead of the 1988 Australian GP (which is in itself a rather peculiar story for another time).
In fact, there have been similar instances of drivers unlapping themselves in a way that has influenced the outcome of a race in quite recent years.
In 2008, Kubica’s decision to unlap himself during the Brazilian GP when running in 13th place against drivers much further up the grid forced Hamilton wide and allowed Vettel to overtake Hamilton, impacting on the running order of the race and threatened to change the WDC entirely.
You also have the case of Hamilton choosing to unlap himself against Vettel in the 2012 German GP when Vettel was in a close fight for the lead of that race – in that instance, Red Bull suggested that Hamilton’s move did impact on the race result by allowing Alonso to build up a larger lead in that race and by allowing Button to close up on Vettel, allowing the latter to then overtake Vettel through pit stop strategy.
However, Horner just went on to acknowledge that “within the rules he did nothing wrong” and said that, whilst he was a little disappointed about what happened, the team just moved straight on from that incident pretty quickly as it was accepted as being a normal part of the sport.
Now, you do not appear to be up in arms about similar incidents that have occurred in recent years – do you think that it was wrong for the backmarkers in those instances to overtake a car that was much further up the grid than they were, and in those instances face accusations that they impacted on the race result or influenced who won that particular race? Or is the chief complaint really just that it happened to impact on Max Verstappen this time and all those other incidents are irrelevant because they impacted different drivers?
erikje
12th January 2019, 17:28
Unlapping and taking out the leader is a story on its own.
Nobody denies the option to unlap but the way Ocon did it is the problem!
Robbie (@robbie)
12th January 2019, 18:44
@Matn Agreed except perhaps for some of your last paragraph where I think you are creating a bit of a story, but in general I agree with you.
@erikje Agreed.
@anon That you have to go back to a handful of incidents in some cases as much as 30 years ago or so is an indication that this type of thing is quite rare. By extension I’m not sure why you would expect such outrage from incidents that happened so far back vs an incident that is still quite fresh from late last season.
I think it is pretty safe to say that the etiquette in this type of situation is that you don’t challenge a race leader as a backmarker in any kind of aggressive way that might disrupt the leader’s race and that is exactly what Ocon did and is exactly why he was the penalized one. That he didn’t help the situation afterwards when he could have diffused it is an indication that this was personal. Ocon simply would not have done this to LH, and certainly if he had, he would have apologized to LH via the radio while the race was still on, let alone to exacerbate the situation further afterwards by smirking at LH.
anon
12th January 2019, 18:56
@robbie, I didn’t say it was the only one, or that I intended my list to be exhaustive – I just chose the Arnoux one to highlight the absurdity of Matn’s claims that this was something that had never happened before.
By overstating his case in a way that I felt undermined his argument through his use of hyperbole and the use of personal attacks on Ocon, it suggested to me the real problem he had was nothing to do with the principal of what happened and his real complaint was because it impacted on Verstappen.
Matn
12th January 2019, 19:19
@ Anon,
There sure are examples of backmarkers influencing or even colliding with raceleaders, but Brasil was quite unique. Never ever did we see a backmarker picking an unnecessary fight with a raceleader like Ocon did.
His davantage would only last half a lap, DRS would have simly changed the situation, Ocon was only faster that lap, not a couple of lapstherefore his overtake wouldn’t have lasted….but that’s all strategy.
It was the way Ocon picked his fight, like he really was racing Verstappen not to gain anything, but for personal reasons, that’s what made it unique.
@ Robbie
“your last paragraph where I think you are creating a bit of a story”
These have been the exact words Ocon said… he really was provocing the situation in the worst kind of way. What also caught my eye…the FIA is pretty serious about it, though really no one tried to really stop the hassle, no one jumped in between, just a simple ‘calm down’. I remeber Schumacher walking up to Coulthard’s pit, he was in an immense crowd trying to stop him. Before that we had the Senna/Irvine incident where Senna actually hit Irvine and Senna got restrained and taken away.
At the time the FIA kind of let it slide, probably cause there really wasn’t much going on anyways.
faulty (@faulty)
11th January 2019, 18:43
If the commentary on Max going iRacing, then breaking lap records and being a being a bully to other users has any truth to it, then his prospects for the future are dim. That familiar pattern of conduct in which a gifted abuser takes pride in shaming his victim often ends in tragedy; because, you know, the ancient Greeks knew their tragedies, and they knew hubris.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
11th January 2019, 19:55
@faulty is he being a bully towards other users? How?
faulty (@faulty)
11th January 2019, 19:59
Punting drivers left and right, apparently.
anon
11th January 2019, 23:05
@fer-no65, as @faulty notes, during one of the simulated practise sessions, Verstappen misjudged the closing speed behind another driver who was on a slower lap back to the pits, causing both drivers to go off track and resulting in Verstappen spinning. What Verstappen then did was to slow down and let the other driver pass him, before immediately rammed that other driver off the track and into the nearest barrier. https://www.grandprix247.com/2019/01/10/verstappen-has-road-rage-playing-on-iracing-sim/
It turns out that it was not the first time that he’d deliberately rammed other drivers off the track in iRacing either – there is another recorded incident – quite possibly within the same practise session – where Max rammed another driver off track by deliberately steering into the back of another driver at high speed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VlVLvOVivY
What happens next is something we’ll have to wait and see about – given that Scott Speed was suspended for similar incidents, the possibility of a temporary suspension for Max is something that cannot be ruled out.
erikje
12th January 2019, 17:31
its a game.. ever tried a FPS?
Lots of people shot.. but not in real life!
If it was during a race ( as Scott did!) its quite a different story.. but it was during a practice session. Lets hope the other driver learned something about driving on the racing line.
anon
12th January 2019, 19:28
erikje, would you be prepared to offer that same sort of leniency to other drivers then? After all, you condemn Scott Speed for his behaviour, but want to trivialise Verstappen’s behaviour – why is Scott’s behaviour wrong, but somehow it is all OK when it is Verstappen’s behaviour?
Equally, why have you glossed over the second recorded incident? In that case, the other person whom he crashed into had done nothing to Verstappen in that session, and in that case Verstappen’s behaviour seems to have been far more spiteful and, to be frank, childish.
The person whom Verstappen smashed into mentioned that, about 15 minutes earlier in the session, he’d made minor contract with another driver on that server who happened to be Dutch and was possibly a friend of Verstappen. It seems that was the trigger for Verstappen spending the rest of the session trying to engineer a situation where he could ram him off the track.
Now, in that case Verstappen’s behaviour wasn’t just “spur of the moment”, but was a pre-meditated act that was over an incident that had no direct impact on him whatsoever.
erikje
13th January 2019, 10:26
@anon.
I already mentioned the difference. Scott did it during a race.
And yes it still is a game. Nobody gets hurt only egos.
erikje
13th January 2019, 15:19
@anon, did some reading about the matter.
It seems there are a lot of players who visit a server with VER on it just to make contact.. Often VER have to switch servers to avoid these unwanted players.
VER is driving with another dutch team member ( reddevil) and they support each other. So its very possible someone tried to ram his teammember and he responded to get rid of those “players’/
At the moment VER already did some worldrecords in that game, so he is very serious about it. Constantly getting rammed by fools that like to attract some attention must be very annoying.
However, it still is only a game and as said: nobody gets hurt only bruised Egos.
bosyber (@bosyber)
11th January 2019, 20:11
Gosh, I hope not @faulty, that’s rarely behavior that combines well with a honest appraisal of things to patiently work on and improve to be ever better. More like the bully in an 80ties teenage movie :/
faulty (@faulty)
11th January 2019, 22:36
Me too. I hope it’s disproportionate internet talk.
Because if he went and did a Scott Speed, well…
GtisBetter (@)
11th January 2019, 22:09
When in the history of sports did it end in tragedy? Can’t think of one of the top of my head, much less that it happens often.
Paul Heppler (@paulheppler)
11th January 2019, 23:24
I think it is a type of the bullying mentality instilled by Jos.
erikje
12th January 2019, 17:32
We can only imagine the consequences instilled by your father in the opinions you gave here.
Xcm
11th January 2019, 20:11
Show them how to drive, while your there, max.
WaveCat
12th January 2019, 0:37
I really wish we had an entire grid of Max Verstappens, all with the same attitude: ‘if you don’t let me through, we’ll both crash/I’ll crash into you if you try to pass.’ Even though no one would ever finish, races sure would be exciting (as long as they lasted).
Cristiano Ferreira
12th January 2019, 0:53
Even FIA reckons that FE is such an horrible racing series, that it serves just as right as a punishment. Poor Verstappen.
Cristiano Ferreira
12th January 2019, 0:56
Also…did you guys knew about this?
https://www.grandprix247.com/2019/01/10/verstappen-has-road-rage-playing-on-iracing-sim/
Richard C (@rich156)
12th January 2019, 2:10
He is indeed, his father’s son.
erikje
12th January 2019, 12:50
So are you.. no need for a DNA test then ;)
Caroline Geddes (@lass321)
13th January 2019, 14:38
Maybe we will find that Max has learned his lesson and after the weekend spent observing the stewards he will be a reformed character. However the chances don’t seem good. This from a BBC article on the same subject: ‘Before the punishment was announced, Verstappen said he did not want to do anything that would make him “look like an idiot” because he felt “already very harshly treated”.’
Todfod (@todfod)
14th January 2019, 10:30
If the FIA was in charge of handing out sentences for crimes on a Global level, there would be pandemonium.