Formula 1: Max Verstappen has every right to be ticked off at Esteban Ocon

While Max Verstappen has drawn criticism following the 20th race of the 2018 Formula 1 season, the Brazilian Grand Prix, he has every right to be ticked off at Esteban Ocon.

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen started the penultimate race of the 21-race 2018 Formula 1 season, the Brazilian Grand Prix, at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in fifth place.

However, before his first pit stop in the 71-lap race around the 15-turn, 2.677-mile (4.309-kilometer) Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace road course in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the 21-year-old Dutchman worked his way up to second place behind Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton, who started the race from the pole position.

Hamilton came into the pits before Verstappen did, sending Verstappen to the lead. Verstappen came out behind Hamilton when he finally pitted. Both drivers trailed Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo, who had not yet made his pit stop.

Once Ricciardo finally came into the pits, Verstappen blew by Hamilton for the lead and began to pull away. He appeared to be well on his way to his second consecutive victory, his third victory of the season and the sixth victory of his Formula 1 career. He was much faster than Hamilton, he was on faster tires than Hamilton, and he was on newer tires than Hamilton.

More from Formula One

• Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
• Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
• Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
• Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
• Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points

But on lap 44, Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon attempted to unlap himself by passing Verstappen in turns one and two. In doing so, he made contact with Verstappen, sending the cars of both drivers spinning and allowing Hamilton to retake the lead.

Hamilton held a sizable lead of over five seconds to Verstappen after this incident took place, but Verstappen was able to close the gap to just 1.469 seconds before the race ended. However, Verstappen ran out of laps to catch and pass Hamilton for the lead and the race victory.

Considering the fact that he was well on his way to earning another victory before his run-in with Ocon, second place was not much of a consolation for Verstappen.

And it shouldn’t have been — not even to the point where he would let Ocon off the hook.

Verstappen had every right in the world to be ticked off at the 22-year-old Frenchman following the race. It doesn’t matter what the keyboard trolls — who, by the way, Verstappen called out before winning this year’s Austrian Grand Prix — say, and it certainly doesn’t matter what clearly biased Force India chief executive officer and team principal Otmar Szafnauer says.

After all, Ocon was given a 10-second time penalty by the race stewards for causing a collision with Verstappen, a hefty penalty, albeit one that in no way, shape or form provided any kind of consolidation to the man who was poised to add yet another victory to his resume before the age at which the next youngest Formula 1 race winner earned his first career victory.

Everyone — EVERYONE — knows that had they been in Verstappen’s position, they probably would have reacted in a more aggressive way than he did.

We’ve all heard the cliché that “violence is never the answer”. But if Verstappen giving Ocon a few slight shoves as payback for Ocon robbed Verstappen of a hard-earned race victory is “violence”, perhaps the people criticizing him for it should be out trying to create real change in the world in which we live.

Realistically speaking, causing a collision in a high-speed open-wheel race car — even at a low speed — can do more damage than a rather tame shoving match. I’m not endorsing either; that’s just a fact.

But why would the “holier than thou” crowd let facts get in the way when it comes to criticizing a driver who reacted by doing something other than the status quo and saying what everyone wants to hear, which is something that drivers get criticized for nowadays seemingly all the time anyways?

The bottom line is this. Verstappen had every right to be ticked off at Ocon, and he had every right to express it. Whether or not shoving him was the right way to go about it, let that up to Verstappen and Ocon to decide. None of us were driving either car.

They ended up shaking hands.

What are your thoughts about the incident between Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon? Do you believe the two drivers will be fine racing with one another moving forward not only in the final race of the 2018 Formula 1 season but potentially in future seasons as well?