Mexico GP steward Herbert defends himself: 'Ridiculous to say British bias'

A week after their duel in the United States, Verstappen and Lando Norris met on track again in Mexico. This time, it was Verstappen who was deemed at fault and the stewards handed out Verstappen a total of 20 seconds in penalties. The first ten-second penalty for Verstappen was for pushing an opponent [in this case, Lando Norris] off the track. Verstappen's second ten-second penalty was for going off track and taking advantage of it.

The Red Bull driver served the penalty during his pitstop in the race. It has been the talking point in the days since the race, with many drivers and paddock members giving their views on the incident. Martin Brundle has spoken about how Verstappen had a 'red-mist' moment and perhaps deserved an even stronger penalty. Some are arguing that Verstappen's penalty was too harsh, especially when considering Norris only got five-seconds for one of the penalties that was similar to the previous week.

Herbert: Verstappen went into a "horrible mindset"

Speaking to Action Network, Herbert defended the stewards. "It’s the guidelines we followed, the teams agreed with our decisions. 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," Herbert said.

He was then keen to highlight how he likes Verstappen as a driver. "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," Herbert added.

"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," Herbert said before saying the penalty won't change Verstappen's driving 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," Herbert continued.

British bias from the stewards?

"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," Herbert concluded.