Charlie Whiting expects Max Verstappen to learn from his ill-judged move on Sebastian Vettel during the Chinese Grand Prix last weekend, with the FIA’s race director hoping more caution will be used by the Dutchman in the future.
The Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver hit the Scuderia Ferrari driver at the hairpin at the end of the back straight, spinning both drivers around, with Verstappen earning himself a ten-second time penalty and two penalty points on his Superlicence for the incident, bringing his tally to five in the past twelve months.
Drivers face an automatic one-race ban if they hit twelve points, with Verstappen’s penalty points not set to drop until after the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of July, and as such Whiting believes the twenty-year-old will need to be more careful in the upcoming races not to bring himself closer to the twelve-point mark.
“There probably is a little bit of criticism but that’s what the penalty points are for,” Whiting is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com
“They are there to make a habitual offender take notice. He’s got five points now, so he’s going to be more careful I would say.”
Whiting sees no reason to have a private chat with Verstappen after the Dutchman apologised to Vettel immediately after the race, and ultimately it was deemed that the punishment given during the race was sufficient.
“The stewards have done their bit I don’t think there’s any necessity for that,” said Whiting. “He made a mistake, which he got penalised for.”
