Jos Verstappen takes aim at F1 stewards after Mexico with “conflict of interest” suggestion

Jos Verstappen has taken aim at F1’s stewards after Max Verstappen was hit with two 10-second time penalties at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Verstappen was handed 20 seconds worth of penalties for two incidents with F1 title rival Lando Norris at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

The Dutchman ultimately finished sixth, and with Norris securing second, his lead in the championship has been cut down to 47 points.

The penalties Verstappen received in Mexico were more severe than seen at any point this year, particularly since in Austin, he escaped any punishment for forcing Norris wide on the opening lap.

Speaking to Dutch publication De Telegraaf, Jos defended his son’s driving, stating “he has to do this” due to how uncompetitive the RB20 is at the moment.

“You can start talking about it for a very long time, but it makes no difference anyway, Max has to drive the way he wants,” Jos said.

“He has to do this because the car is not good enough and he is doing everything he can to win the title.”

The 52-year-old suggested that the stewards on duty in Mexico “don’t like” Max hence the harsh penalties.

For Mexico, former Sky pundit Johnny Herbert was the FIA’s driver steward.

“But Max is not going to change his driving style because there were a couple of stewards present now who don’t like him anyway,” Jos added.

“The FIA should take a good look at the staffing of the stewards, who they put there and whether there is no appearance of a conflict of interest.

“From former drivers, for example, who have more sympathy for certain drivers or [teams].”

“As far as Max is concerned, the most important thing is that the basis, the car, is not good.

“You could see that in his teammate’s performance, even Haas was faster than Red Bull in the race.”