Herbert: I was Steward in Mexico, Verstappen 20s penalty justified
F1 NewsWednesday, 30 October 2024 at 16:17
FIA-appointed Formula 1 Steward Johnny Herbert, on duty during the Mexico City Grand Prix, is adamant that the 20-seconds in penalties handed to Max Verstappen for his shenanigans during the race on Sunday was justified.
While most, even ardent non-English Verstappen fans [this author included] agree that the Red Bull ace's aggressive driving was out of line, even dangerous and deserved a penalty.
Among them, ex-F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya agreed the World Champ deserved to be penalised, but questioned the inconsistency as Lando Norris only got five seconds for his illegal overtake on his rival late in the race, a week earlier at COTA.
Thanks to the media team at Action Network, for supplying the answers to questions everyone wants to know, this is what Herbert had to say from his position as a Race Steward in Mexico with a direct role in the penalty handed out: "I was a steward in Mexico. The 20-second penalty was not harsh - it frustrates me to see Verstappen in a ‘horrible mindset’ of taking a fellow racer off the track."
Herbert: It’s the guidelines we followed, the teams agreed with our decisions
Herbert explained: "The right decision was made, the 20-second penalty for Max Verstappen was not harsh. Was Verstappen’s driving style on the edge or over the top? Yes, it was. Verstappen’s driving style was harsh, especially when he’s taking a fellow driver off the track. It’s an absolute no-no from me, current drivers, former drivers and stewards.
“I am such a big fan of Verstappen and it frustrates me massively when he drives the way he did in Mexico. He doesn’t need to do it, he’s so good in the cockpit and at this point in the Championship, he just needs to stay out of trouble and drive as well as possible.
"When Verstappen goes into this horrible mindset of trying to gain an advantage by taking a fellow driver off the race track so Ferrari can get the one-two, that where Verstappen needs to know he doesn’t have to do that. Just win in the cleanest possible way you can.”
The stewards panel in Mexico City was made up of Herbert; experienced motorsports executive and official Tim Mayer; lawyer Loïc Bacquelaine, and experienced Mexican official Alfonso Oros Trigueros.
Herbert continued: "The attitude in the Stewards’ room was really good and our decision was clear because the guidelines tell us what to look at and how to deal with the situation. When we applied the two ten-second penalties to Max Verstappen, we were all in agreement. Always remember, there are four stewards who make these decisions."
Will the Mexico penalties stop Verstappen from using such tactics in future?
Herbert thinks not: "Those penalties in Mexico won’t stop Max Verstappen from pushing Lando Norris off the track in the future. The whole intention of Verstappen was to try to let Ferrari get the one-two finish. I think that’s definitely what Verstappen intended and tried to achieve, I understand why he did it but I don’t agree with it, I don’t think many people do.
"Fair racing is something Norris has mentioned before, and that’s the type of fight he wants to have. I don’t see Verstappen’s driving changing because the number one goal is to stop Norris from closing the gap for the Drivers Championship. We potentially still have a lot of interesting racing coming our way.”
As for accusations of bias by Stewards and media towards non British drivers, Herbert insisted: “There always seems to be an issue about us British stewards being ‘biased’, but when we’re in that room, we abide by the rules and guidelines from the FIA. That is how we have to judge the racing on the track.
“To say it’s ‘biased’ is absolutely ridiculous and not the case. We try as hard as possible to be fair in our judgement. The issue we have is the tactics we see on the track, there are driving styles that are not deemed correct according to the guidelines, and the situation we had in Mexico showed that we made the right decision.
“In Mexico, the stewards other than me were American, Belgian and Brazilian, all who have the same powers as each other. To say there’s bias is ridiculous," declared Herbert.
Many predict fireworks between Verstappen and Norris in Sao Paulo
This weekend's Sao Paulo Grand Prix, with a Sprint Race to add to the stewarding load as the title race reaches a do-or-die stage, should be spicy but the officiating ethos won;t change says Herbert: "The stewards won’t change anything in Brazil. We have the guidelines and that’s what we’ll be sticking to.
We will judge what happens on the circuit in the same way we have all season. The decisions and penalties applied have been pretty much correct the whole season, teams have come up to us after races and agreed with our decisions.”
On the sporting side, in terms of the 2024 F1 world title fight, Herbert predicted: “Can Lando Norris catch Max Verstappen in the Drivers Championship? It’s going to be a tough one. McLaren have the fastest car but we’ve seen a resurgence from Ferrari. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have done very well in recent weeks.
"Was Norris fastest in Mexico? Yes, probably, but as we know in racing, it’s not as simple who is the fastest and we saw that with Norris’ battle with Verstappen. Norris will need Verstappen to not finish one of the remaining races with a mechanical problem, it’s going to be very hard for Norris to catch up," reckons Herbert.
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