Max Verstappen: 'had niets anders gedaan met Ocon'

Zojuist werd de eerste persconferentie in Abu Dhabi gehouden. De organisatoren hadden goed nagedacht over de indeling, want Ocon en Verstappen werden aan weerszijden neergezet, met de twee Ferrari-coureurs in hun midden. Max geeft aan dat het opstootje na de race wat hem betreft een onschuldige duwpartij was, en dat het veel erger had gekund. Eigenlijk wat hij eerder op de Nederlandse televisie ook al aangaf.

Op de vraag of hij spijt heeft van zijn actie: “No not really because I was after an apology and I got a different response. We are all emotional and just at the time I lost the victory so I think from my side I was really calm. It could have been a lot worse. I think pushing in any sport, it happens. I actually saw a few days ago in football again, so from my side I thought it was quite a calm response.

What do you expect me to do, like shake his hand? Say thank you very much for being second instead of first. I think it’s quite a normal response. OK I got my two days [of public service] with the FIA, which we will find out what we are going to do. But you guys don’t actually hear what’s being said at the scales, you just see me pushing but if you understand the whole conversation it’s a bit different.”

Maar wat werd er dan precies gezegd bij de weegschaal? “Something I didn’t expect to hear. It doesn’t matter what it was at the end of the day because it clearly pissed me off, instead of let’s say an apology. Maybe after the race, it’s still in your body, you maybe don’t get the right answer. Like I said, we’re not robots, we have emotions and it will always be [like that] unless you put robots in the car but I don’t think we want that.”