“It was Max’s fault,” remarked Johnny Herbert, the steward that issued the sanction for the incident between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris during the Austrian Grand Prix.
The three-time world champion ultimately got a 10-second penalty and two penalty points on his super license after causing contact that resulted in both of them picking up damage, losing podium positions, and the McLaren driver DNFing.
As one of the stewards, Herbert shared his points on the unfortunate incident and Verstappen, who he deemed to be “a hard racer”.
“He is very, very hard to beat. He intimidates everybody,” he pointed out the respect and perhaps even the intimidation that many drivers on the Formula 1 grid feel towards the Dutchman.
“That intimidation is something that Lewis [Hamilton], Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna have always done. When you come up against Max as he is driving today, there’s a point if you’re Lando that you have to say: ‘I am here. I am at your side. You are trying to squeeze me off the circuit. And I am not going to move.’
“Lando did the right thing. He did not move. He did not have to. Some people said he could have moved. But that is not how you beat Max or how you win the Grand Prix.
“It is the side of Max that has always been part of his armory. We haven’t seen it for a while, because he has been so dominant. It is interesting to see how he reacts under pressure.”
The 10-second penalty was met with two different reactions and opinions — one, coming of course from McLaren, saying that the sanction should have been even harsher. And the other one, from Red Bull and Verstappen himself, arguing that the penalty was undeserved.
“That is the hardest one that can be applied under FIA guidelines that we operate under as stewards,” Herbert pointed out regarding the severity of the penalty.
“McLaren have said it should have been harsher, but that is the game all teams play.
“If someone had flipped over or been barrel rolling down the track, I don’t know if that would have changed things. Forcing a driver off the circuit or causing an incident is what it came under.
“That was the maximum sanction we could have taken,” the steward insisted.
“It is all about consistency. We have to abide by the FIA regulations which say if there is a car which makes contact with another car it is a 10-second penalty full stop. That is the consistency which you need.
“To go ‘well, that was more extreme’ doesn’t work. It was hard racing and one driver made a little error in squeezing the other. That led to the contact.
“There is no sliding scale of penalties because that would become a bigger issue and more subjective. If you try to slice up an incident, it causes more problems, and then it is more inconsistent and everyone gets more unhappy.”
To answer the other side of the story, Herbert already made it quite clear that the sanction was deserved, and he thinks that Verstappen will eventually come to the same verdict: “I am sure he will reflect and once he has had time to think about it and look at the video he will understand that that is not a situation he could [get] into again because it might harm his chances of winning the World Championships this year.
“It is good that he is under pressure for the first time in a long time. Lando and McLaren have been chipping away at it, and now you start seeing those little cracks starting to appear.
“Max had to go back to his hard self which sometimes just goes over the top and gets himself into trouble.”
However, Herbert doesn’t think one incident like this will change Verstappen’s winning mindset or his quite aggressive driving style and intimidation tactic — because that’s just not what the greatest ones do and in Herbert’s opinion, “he is right not to”.
“It will not change the way he goes racing. No driver before, like Michael Schumacher, [ever] changed their approach.
“And I don’t want him to. I find it really exciting. It is just when he gets to that point, he can only blame [himself].”
The steward added: “He will adjust somehow and find another way of doing it, but still put the same pressure on whoever his opponent is.”
In the end, Herbert agreed that he can see a young Michael Schumacher in Verstappen: “Yes, I can. Look at Michael’s incidents with Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, for instance. He would do anything he could to benefit from a certain situation.
“Jos [Verstappen], his father, drove with Michael at Benetton, and he would have seen first-hand those incidents, how Michael operated. I can imagine him saying to Max in his younger days: ‘I want you to drive and intimidate everyone off the circuit effectively. You make sure that you win the race by being the toughest driver.’
“The way Max drives will have been shaped a lot by Jos’ input and his own experiences of driving with Michael Schumacher. It will never change. It is ingrained in him.”
Now, the building fight and rivalry between Verstappen and Norris also could very well be the next ‘great one’.
“Lando has said if Max apologizes I will accept it and if he doesn’t, I will lose respect for him. He probably will say sorry, but will he mean it?!
“You know that neither will back out of that same situation again.
“If this battle continues, as it will, there is every chance of a similar situation happening again.
“The lovely thing is both are still young and getting better. For the next two years this will be a battle royale which will be great for us and them. It will be the smartest one who will come out on top,” the 3-time F1 race winner predicts.
With the British Grand Prix around the corner, it will be interesting to see how the support of fans and the vibes of the home race will affect Norris and if Red Bull will benefit from Silverstone being a high-speed track.
And as Herbert noted: “Everyone knows Max races at the very edge and sometimes goes over it.”
