Former F1 Mika Salo says he received death threats after deciding to penalise Max Verstappen in Austin last Sunday. Although Australian Garry Connelly received the brunt of the blame, Salo was also on the stewards panel that decided Verstappen's last-lap pass on Kimi Raikkonen was illegal.
It cost the furious Dutchman a podium, but F1 sporting chief Ross Brawn backs the stewards' call. "The punishment was technically correct, but hard," he said. Verstappen's F1 rival Nico Hulkenberg said he feels for the 20-year-old driver. "In a thousandth of a second you make a decision, so I can understand Max's side," the German told Sport1. "It was just an unfortunate situation."
Unfortunate perhaps, but that hasn't stopped some of Max's fans from releasing their fury. Austin steward Salo is quoted by De Telegraaf newspaper: "I have received several death threats, especially from the Netherlands. That should never be tolerated."
F1 boss Brawn says the important thing is that the sport learns from the controversy. "Once the dust settles, we need to look at this together with the FIA and the teams," he said. "Technology is becoming better and better in helping regulators across sports, including the Bundesliga or Serie A in Italy," Brawn explained. "In formula one, we have everything we need for excellent video technology. We then need to find ways to translate that technology into precise and consistent judgements." (GMM)
So Salo had a part in that penalty? Well, I dont really tend to agree with the penalties he set out, but I think this one was just. Either way, Salo is generally one of the stewards who tend to let Verst go from most cases like this, so I wont put this down to him hating on Max. Either way, death threats, over a bloody sports penalty... Well, I aint surprised, I've recieved death threats for saying I like playing certain games despite being a casual. A sports penalty do with all certainty generate far more hate than any of that.
i dont under stand why no other driver was penalized, lewis was way off the track in many parts of the race as was many other drivers, they should have been stiff on penalties all weekend if they were going to make a brutal call like the one on verstappen, besides it was the turn before the pass happened not during the pass.
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I hope they take finding these idiots serious and slap them with hefty fines!