Johnny Herbert has opened up on the Formula 1 stewards’ decision to slap Max Verstappen with a community service-style punishment for his foul language.
I’m F1 steward who punished Max Verstappen for swearing – I love him but he deserved it’
Former F1 racer Herbert was one of the four stewards on duty for the FIA at the Singapore Grand Prix last month. So he was one of those who dealt with Verstappen’s case after he used the F-word in an official press conference on the Thursday before the race.
FIA rules ban racers from swearing in such scenarios and the stewards were left with no choice but to punish the Red Bull racer. Herbert, the driver steward on duty at that event, has explained why they chose to order Verstappen to “accomplish some work of public interest
Some journalists have said the sport is trying to make robots out of the drivers. That’s not the case – you are just asking them not to swear which I think is the right thing. Most drivers don’t swear.
“The incident was referred to us as stewards. We had a good open chat with Max for about 20 minutes, half an hour, in what was a difficult situation. You could see in his face he was really worked up about it. But when he left, he appeared to be mollified about the process and why it’s there. He did not blame us as stewards.
In this case, as stewards we have a variety of methods with which we can penalize the drivers. What we are doing there is enforcing those rules and coming to a decision at the same time. We could have hit him with a fine but decided that this would be better as a way of motivating him towards responsible community behaviors. It is now up to Max and the FIA what that is.”
Despite this, Verstappen may have been polite to the stewards when he met them but he was not at all when he was punished. He also used his pen to protest against the FIA when he became wordy in his next official press conference, answering all questions in one or two words averring he would answer the questions properly outside the press conference room.
Herbert said that he knows that Verstappen is a tough guy, but said that it was the correct decision to penalize the triple F1 champion. The Brit added: It all blew up afterwards because he went to the press conference and gave one word answers then held his own press conference outside in the paddock.
That was seen when Max was being rebellious. Me, I like that side of him it is what made max be unique max with his honest and in appropriate speech. But there is time and place that perfect for such activities among the employees at work. As per my own opinion, there are two many uses of the obscene language. I hope my five years old grandchild does not hear such language.