“It’s really not acceptable”– Jos Verstappen speaks against Lewis Hamilton’s role in ousting the former’s son– Max Verstappen, from the race.
Max Verstappen survived a 51G crash into the barriers on Sunday, and the impact was so hard that the Dutch race driver had to be taken to a hospital, as he was feeling dizzy, so a precautionary check was made.
Cleared from the hospital after all the checks were ok. Thank you to everyone for all the nice messages and best wishes 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/zBlfbQ8uh4
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 18, 2021
For this incident, FIA found Hamilton responsible for the collision and charged him with a 10-second penalty during the race, yet the Briton managed to win the race.
However, Verstappen’s father– Jos Verstappen, disagreed with the decision made by the authorities and demanded a straight ban for a race, as Red Bull did.
“It’s really not acceptable what he [Hamilton] did,” he told Dutch publication De Telegraaf. “I think a 10-second penalty is really ridiculous. As far as I am concerned, they should have just disqualified him.
The Verstappens were clearly not happy with the decision, as Max himself openly showed his disapproval with the race results and the celebration made by Hamilton.
Glad I’m ok. Very disappointed with being taken out like this. The penalty given does not help us and doesn’t do justice to the dangerous move Lewis made on track. Watching the celebrations while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behavior but we move on pic.twitter.com/iCrgyYWYkm
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 18, 2021
FIA gives the answer
While Red Bull tried to pressure FIA a lot to reap the most out of the incident, as Mercedes’ double podium obviously jeopardized their lead, and for them, nothing below a race ban is justified.
But the FIA race director Michael Masi has been clear on the stewards’ decisions and asked to uphold their independence in the sport. Moreover, Masi also argued that the incident is given priority in decision making over the impact, and according to that guideline, Hamilton appears to get a justified penalty.
