Max Verstappen was given the “hardest” permitted penalty in Formula 1 for his Austrian Grand Prix clash with Lando Norris, according to FIA steward Johnny Herbert.
Verstappen and Norris were contesting the race lead with seven laps remaining at the Red Bull Ring when disaster struck as contact saw both drivers incur punctures.
The stewards determined Verstappen was responsible as the Dutchman moved across on Norris in the braking zone at Turn 3 and handed him a 10-second time drop.
Expanding upon the process to reach that decision, Herbert has explained that the stewards were about to penalise Norris for track limits when the incident transpired.
“When we were watching it, it immediately came down to whose fault was it. And it was Max’s,” Herbert, who was among the stewarding contingent, told Coin Poker.
“The interesting thing is we were just about to penalise Lando at the time because he had gone outside the track limit four times
“And we gave him a five-second penalty literally at the moment they came into contact.
“We were dealing with that when the contact happened and I looked up and saw the tyre off.”
With Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas residing over 10 seconds behind Verstappen come the chequered flag, the reigning F1 champion retained his eventual fifth-place finish.
Despite questions arising over whether that constituted a fair outcome when his rival retired, ex-F1 driver Herbert has divulged that the stewards could not be harsher.
“That is the hardest one that can be applied under FIA guidelines that we operate under as stewards,” Herbert told Coin Poker.
“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.”
McLaren boss Andrea Stella argued Verstappen’s result remaining unchanged once the time drop was added demonstrated that the rulebook warranted a discussion.
However, Herbert has countered that the stewards’ panel can’t distinguish between how severe the collision was or what the implications were during an investigation.
When Stella’s comments about Verstappen deserving to be disciplined more was put to him, Herbert reiterated: “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.”
Herbert also denied that Verstappen’s uncompromising approach to racing his competitors has meant that the stewards at specific events single him out each round.
“The stewards only react to what is put in front of them,” he explained. “They are not looking for it or waiting for it.
“Everybody is going to be aware of it. Everyone knows Max races at the very edge and sometimes goes over it.
“When the pressure starts to build, it is the driver who has the ability to intimidate the most who will take control of a situation.
“Everyone has been reminded just what is in Max’s makeup. Is he going to change? No. That is not his way. And he is right not to. I think he needs slightly to temper it.”
Herbert, who won three races across 160 F1 starts between 1989 and 2000, has quashed the argument that Norris should have attempted more to avoid the contact.
Meanwhile, the Briton has added that he will be intrigued to see how Verstappen deals with replica situations in the coming rounds now that Red Bull has a challenge.
“It was Max’s fault. He is a hard racer. He is very, very hard to beat. He intimidates everybody,” Herbert admitted.
“That intimidation is something that Lewis. 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 armoury. We haven’t seen it for a while, because he has been so dominant.
“It is interesting to see how he reacts under pressure. He did not agree with the penalty that came his way which also included two points on his license.”
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