Max Verstappen’s behavior during on-track battles continues to spark discussions among insiders. After the United States Grand Prix at the Austin circuit, several drivers, including Lando Norris himself, complained about the Dutchman’s borderline racing conduct. In the Mexico City Grand Prix, the situation escalated to the point where the stewards imposed a heavy penalty on the three-time world champion.
Aside from the somewhat unclear sporting regulations regarding the guidelines to follow during overtaking or defending, Damon Hill believes that Max Verstappen’s excessive aggressiveness on the track is also a result of Red Bull’s constant public support, with Christian Horner once again defending his driver in front of the media while holding telemetry data.
A Hyper-Protective Red Bull
“There has never been any attempt to publicly describe his driver in a way that others would recognize as… it’s always a protective comment from Christian towards Max,” the 1996 world champion stated in an interview with Sky Sports.
“So Max, apparently, is free to do whatever he wants. His team will never criticize his driving style.” – he added – “I think if you’re racing, it’s probably fine to do that publicly, but at some point, there needs to be a conversation. It’s the team’s responsibility to contribute to the driver’s attitude. The FIA’s job is to say: ‘Wait a minute, guys, this is a lot of fun, but we’re concerned that one of you could have a terrible accident, and we don’t want that to happen, so we need to put a stop to this excessive behavior.’”
“This is the balancing point. What do we want from this sport? We want battles. We like close action, wheel-to-wheel. We love bold overtakes. We enjoy all of that. We don’t want to just see people colliding with each other and turning into a foul in the penalty area. That’s the problem when there’s an overtaking attempt.” – Damon Hill concluded.
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