FIA steward disagrees with calls to disqualify Max Verstappen for his controversial incident with George Russell 

FIA steward Derek Warwick has pushed back against suggestions that Max Verstappen should have been disqualified for his controversial incident with George Russell in Barcelona. During the F1 Spanish GP, the Dutch driver was involved in a controversial incident with the Mercedes driver that saw him pick up a 10-second penalty and 3 penalty points.

Max Verstappen, already furious with his team, was ordered by Red Bull to give position to George Russell. While giving up his position, the Dutch driver ended up ramming into the side of the Brit in a move that was deemed intentional by both Jolyon Palmer and Nico Rosberg on commentary.

While the driver was handed a 10-second penalty and 3 F1 penalty points, many fans called for the disqualification of the Dutch driver. FIA steward Derek Warwick, however, doesn't subscribe to the idea, as, according to him, Max Verstappen's incident was not intentional. Talking to the betting site Plejmo, the steward said,

"Sebastian Vettel once got a 10-second drive-through penalty in Baku after an incident with Lewis Hamilton. But he deliberately drove into Lewis. Whereas if you watch this video, it seems to me that, although he dived into it, he then turned away from George, but the momentum pushed him into George."

He added,

"It is absolutely wrong and the FIA rightly gave him a penalty. I think a lot of people would say he should have gotten a suspension as an example to young karters, and they are probably right, but I think the penalty was perfect. You have to look at each incident individually. This is not what I like to see."

Verstappen ended up finishing the race in P5 before being relegated to P10 after application of the penalty.

Warwick on Max Verstappen's mentality

Talking about the incident, Derek Warwick felt that a part of it came down to the Dutch driver's anger at how the race had panned out. At one point, there was a sliver of an opportunity that Max Verstappen could potentially challenge for the win. How it panned out after that unexpectedly played a role in the incident. He said,

"I think everyone has to realise that when you're a driver who's used to winning like Max, it's very difficult when things go wrong in a race that on paper, with three stops, looks like you could win. And we all know he's a winner," Warwick said. "Should he have done what he did in Turn 5 with George Russell? Absolutely not. Did he get a penalty for that? Yes."

Moving on from Max Verstappen's incident with George Russell, there are going to be questions asked of Derek Warwick as he is also giving interviews to betting websites. This was the same thing that led to Johnny Herbert losing his position as an FIA steward, and it could lead to controversy.