The fact that Max Verstappen apologized for his unsportsmanlike behavior at the Grand Prix of Spain on Monday morning was largely evaluated in the comments under his Instagram contribution. “We are behind you, Super-Max,” wrote, for example, a user, and: “With the inner peace and trust you will win your fifth title.”
But elsewhere on social media, the apology was also criticized as inadequate. In a WhatsApp group in which members of the YouTube channel from Formel1.de have organized themselves, one user writes: “This is not an excuse, that is PR-BaBbel. For me, there is a clear difference between an admission of guilt and an apology. Simply saying that you have done something that should not have been done and has nothing to do with an apology. […]”
An opinion that Norbert Haug shares. In an interview with “Sky” he says the former Mercedes sports director that he was “completely off his socks” OB Verstappen’s campaign in Barcelona, and “I couldn’t imagine that you can take it this way. After all, he apologized today.”
But Haug also thinks that the apology “lacks two very simple words for me, at the very end: ‘Sorry, George.’ And maybe he can still apologize to the sports commissioners.
“That’s why I would have expected that he says: ‘I apologize to George, I apologize for my misconduct at the FIA, and with all the fans who look at.’ He is a person who is rightly admired.
Verstappen had posted a photo on Monday morning on Instagram that shows him in a depressed posture and classified his attack against Russell the day before as “not okay” and explained that the collision should not have happened. I always give everything out there for the team, and the emotions can boil up. “
In the meantime, it has also become known, among other things by an Instagram contribution by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner that the four-time world champion had already apologized to his team on Sunday evening in the Debriefing in Barcelona. After another internal conversation on Monday morning, he posted his public apology on Instagram.
Incidentally, in a non-representative survey on the YouTube channel from Formel1.de, which was switched online shortly after the end of the race in Barcelona and on which around 2,500 times so far, 56 percent of the participants speak out against a lock for unsportsmanlike behavior. 44 percent answer the question “Should Max Verstappen be blocked against George Russell in Barcelona because of his ramb’s impact?” but with yes.