Ocon had the official right to unlap himself, yes, but racing the race leader is not how that is done. The difference is laptimes between Verstappen and Ocon were not that big, so it would have been a matter of a few laps before Verstappen had to pass Ocon again / Ocon would have been shown blue flags again. The unlapping is there for special circumstances where the leader slows down for some reason, not for a backmarker to try to race the leader because he has better tires for a few laps. That is why the stewards gave him the stop & go. If the same accident had happened between Hamilton and Verstappen, it would have been a race incident without penalty. No comparison. The fact that there WAS a penalty says it all. FI is to blame as well, as they told Ocon to do this, knowing it was completely useless, and potentially race result influencing. And for Verstappen confronting Ocon, well, it may not be what you would have done, but you are no racing drivers. Do you all consider Senna (Irvine) and Schumacher (Coulthard) as immature/unprofessional as well?
What kind of community service will Max serve, and where? He identifies with the color orange, and I see a lot of guys in orange doing community service.
Senna and MS are not saints. Attacking physically another driver is utter stupidity. No one is above this. Sorry but Max is an idiot. What he did after the race makes him look far worse than Ocon. He is a punk bully.
Sir your reaction is nothing but hate mail. Clearly written with the only purpose the make a point that only less and less still follow. ANYBODY in this same situation would have reacted the same way, or even more verbal and/or physical. Continue to call him arrogant, immature, entiled or whatever you want. You will be up for a decade of not having fun at F1 because Max will dominate that. I suggest you try chess, curling or for that matter, any other non-emotional sports for a change. All this p.c. b*llsh*t is really pissing me of. Sport IS emotion and anybody that does not understand this probably never competed on any level himself.
So not controlling your overpaid emotions and assaulting another competitor, who was already penalized is ok for you. Its not PC its assault. Max needs help and is not at all impressive. What would have been impressive is the ability to understand what LH said to him in the rest area before the podium, absorb it and move on. If you want violence in F1 after the race its you who has the issue.
Mark Webber tweets: Some wild going’s on from the past.... public service requirement??!! Seen worse at a pre school fate. Steward’s and FIA killing the emotions.. ex-MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner tweets: What was @OconEsteban thinking?? That may the the most thoughtless move I have seen in racing. Doesn’t matter if he was unlapping himself, you don’t impede the race leader. Ocon had "nothing to gain" with Verstappen - Steiner (Team Principal HAAS) https://www.racefans.net/2018/11/12/racefans-round-up-12-11/ Ocon shouldn’t have been “fighting” Verstappen – Whiting https://www.racefans.net/2018/11/12/ocon-shouldnt-have-been-fighting-verstappen-whiting/ Ocon Image Unavailable, Please Login
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/139994/fia-explains-why-ocon-move-was-unacceptable Charlie wants it both ways. LH has it right and Max needs to learn that which LH said to him. FIA Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting says Esteban Ocon was not wrong to try to unlap himself in the Brazilian Grand Prix but fighting Max Verstappen was "wholly unacceptable". Verstappen was taken out of the lead of the race after Ocon, recently out of the pits on fresh supersoft tyres, attacked him around the outside into Turn 1 and then tried to pass him on the inside of Turn 2. Ocon was handed a 10-second stop-go penalty for causing a collision, but was backed after the race by his team, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton, who inherited the win as Verstappen dropped to second. Whiting said Ocon was "absolutely allowed to unlap himself" but explained that it was the manner in which he attempted to pass Verstappen - who would have been vulnerable to a pass with DRS into Turn 4 had Ocon waited a little longer - that was the problem. "It's happened many times in the past," said Whiting of whether lapped drivers can pass frontrunners. "But of course you expect it to be done safely. "More to the point, it should be done cleanly and absolutely without fighting. You shouldn't be fighting to get past. "If he's got the pace then normally one would expect Red Bull to say 'Ocon has got the pace, let him through' or that sort of thing. "But it seemed he just went for it. It was just a bit unfortunate that he decided to fight for it, which was wholly unacceptable." However, Whiting stressed: "I don't think it makes any difference it was the leader. "It makes it worse in a lot of people's eyes but as far as the stewards are concerned, that doesn't matter." Verstappen's role in the clash was criticised as some believe he should not have turned in to the apex of Turn 2 when he had gone side-by-side with Ocon into Turn 1. Hamilton said immediately post-race he would have handled it differently to Verstappen and reiterated later that the Red Bull driver should have left more space given Ocon had "nothing to lose". "I thought that it was fair game for him to try to unlap himself," said Hamilton when asked by Autosport if he still maintained his position on the clash. "Of course you don't want to cause an incident, but in those scenarios you give each other space, it's so simple to give each other space. "You can never assume that the person's not up your inside, because he's a backmarker and he's going to back off. "You've got to acknowledge the fact that he may be there - 'I'm going to leave extra space, because actually he's in a different race to me'."
Let's not forget that Ocon is also an employee of Mercedes. Lewis got lucky. Ocon is fortunate he didn't make his mistake on Piquet or Senna where real puches were despatched with emotions running high. At least the FIA issued a punishment for Ocon and for Max. The teenage pushing was no worse than a queue outside a West End theatre. Ice Hockey ! Now that's where emotions run really high and spill over....
I do not care for his attitude on or off the track. The Honda variable couple with the VER variable will interesting to watch next year. Hopefully discussed during interviews with non-podium finishers.
If nothing else, the last two weeks make me wonder and worry about Max's mental strength. Going into the bin because your teammate out-qualified you and then trying to assault another racer after you tangle -- a tangle he had every opportunity to avoid -- has me thinking that he may yet become F1s youngest polesitter, but he is a good ways away from becoming a champion in a closely contested season. Max just seems too easy to "knock off his game".
Just to whom was he going to do some damage? Christian Horner or Dietrich Mateschitz who have put him where he is? Soon this very talented but over-entitled and grossly spoiled brat is going to try to take on someone far beyond his capabilities; who will respond by punting him into the trees with a broken face.
Clearly everybody saying that Verstappen is spoiled, over-entitled, metally unstable, overpaid and what more, is hoping for more Botasses in the future. "Move over Valterri, Lewis wants to win!" "Okay sir, yes sir!" Well that will be fun to watch.
Max had every right to get into Ocon's face after the race. He crossed the line when pushing him multiple times. Too bad, because he once again showed an excellent race performance which should have resulted in an easy win.
Yes. And too bad Max decided to defend a corner on a car that was one lap behind him when he didn't have to.
Exactly right. VER had the pace to wait for a better/safer opportunity to put Ocon behind him for good and still challenge LH for the win.
This was easily avoidable if the race leader had a little more situational awareness. Max cost himself the win. Good thinking drivers understand which battles to pick.
I think Max WAS situationally aware. Maybe the bad blood between him and Ocon over the years got the red mist in his eyes. Maybe he just didn't think it through. You would have thought his pit crew would have told him to just let Ocon through. That seems like another failure.
His lack of response to LH when LH reminded him about the situation in the room before the podium has gained some notice in the press. Max had no response to LH about that - a loss for words. Max was not thinking if you ask me or as you state was so focused on Ocon and their past.
That's "common assault" in judicial terms, and it's a felony. One day, Max Verstappen may well find that his actions put him on the wrong side of the law and terminally end his career; You think I exagerate, ask Bertand Gachot; all it took was for a taxi driver to report him for assault. Gachot was arrested, held in custody, sentenced and ended up losing his seat in F1. There is no room in the 21st century for thugish behaviour because you didn't get your way; Beside, the FIA should crack down heavily on any attitude that brings the sport into disrepute, and suspend Max licence for some time.
I've noticed that it usually takes Max a while to ponder the errors of his instinctive ways, but he does then implement recalibration - unlike many 21 year olds. Monaco quali is a prime example - he is rarely overdriving the car now and consistency has since increased. Whether people like his gung-ho attitude is secondary. He currently reminds me of a cross between Gilles and MS, and has certainly stuffed a firecracker up the arse of F1.
He is only managing to upset knicker-twisters. As others have commented, we've witnessed far worse in F1. The sport was in danger of becoming so poorly sanitised until Max injected some energy. You don't like Max, fair enough. He will continue being a race winner and box office draw.
Let's say this happened instead of what DID happen. Max lets Ocon go through the corner, slowing him down a few tenths. Max complains to the stewards. Ocon is punished. Max is happy. Max wins the race Max celebrates his victory as a hero over Hamilton and more points for RB near the end of the season Max never pushes Ocon and never has to face the stewards Now, which is better?
I think this should be clarified once and for all. Unlapping happens in other series, so why not in F1? If I am not mistaken, unlapping happens quite often in NASCAR or Indycar, so why is it taboo in F1? I think I remember reading (I didn't Watch that race), that Jacques Villeneuve unlapped himself TWICE at Indianapolis to win the 500. Early on in the race, he was 2 laps down, and climbed through the field to take the lead at the end. He would probably not have allowed to challenge the leaders, according to F1 protocol. To respond to Robbe, what is a driver isupposed to do if he is one lap down, but later in the race his car is in better shape than the leader? Just follow the leader ?
No he has wreckless emotional tendancy and a lack of respect for other drivers at times. The firecracker was up his yesterday and by his own actions both on and off the track. He was the biggest loser yesterday and all of it preventable. Its that simple and LH made sure he knew it lol
