Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko believes Esteban Ocon should be given a race ban as the fallout from his collision with Max Verstappen in Brazil continues.
The Frenchman tried to unlap himself versus the Dutchman going through the Senna S but in a clumsy move would hit the Red Bull shortly after Verstappen had taken the lead from Lewis Hamilton.
Ocon was given the harshest penalties possible without exclusion, a 10-second stop/go plus three points on his licence, but that didn’t satisfy Marko.
“A Mercedes driver, who is promised a seat for 2020, crashes into the leading car – unbelievable,” the Austrian told Germany’s Motorsport-Magazin stirring up conspiracy theories.
“They should have told him ‘this is the leader, he has new tyres, don’t attack him’, then this idiot [only] gets a 10-second penalty. I would have expected a race ban.”
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Force India and Mercedes were quick to rule out any kind of intent on Ocon’s part, but after the race, the argument continued as he and Verstappen were seen in an altercation in parc ferme.
“We are all passionate about the sport. I mean, it would be odd if I had shaken his hand,” Max said, who later got two days public service by the FIA for pushing Esteban multiple times.
“To get taken out like that and to get a stupid response from his side as well, I was not happy about that,” he continued.
“I’m just trying to do my race and suddenly a backmarker is… just taking a stupid risk, to dive in on the inside. What can I do about it?
“The penalty for me today is that I lost the victory. Hopefully, in 15 years we can laugh about it,” Verstappen concluded.