Verstappen victory burnouts won’t be tolerated in future - Masi

Red Bull has been told Max Verstappen’s burnouts in celebration of his victory in the Styrian Grand Prix “would not be tolerated in future” by FIA race director Michael Masi.

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Verstappen slowed down after taking the checkered flag so that he could pull up to the pit wall in front of his mechanics and engineers and performed two burnouts before continuing on his way. While drivers are allowed to mark their victories, the fact Verstappen did so on the pit straight with other cars racing to the line meant Masi quickly reprimanded the team.

“Yes, as soon as it happened, it was not an ideal situation, which is why I spoke to the team immediately and told them accordingly that it is something that would not be tolerated in future,” Masi said.

Verstappen’s burnouts were one of very few moments that Masi felt the FIA needed to look at during Sunday’s race, with the only other significant incident seeing Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc make contact out of Turn 1, later leading to an ailing Gasly tapping Antonio Giovinazzi into a spin.

“It was looked at as part of the Turn 3 incident that was noted on the screen, and it was deemed one of those that was a first-lap type matter, and considering the whole situation it was noted but that no further investigation was necessary.”

https://twitter.com/redbullracing/status/1409162763105099781

While Masi made the call to Red Bull himself, there have been numerous occasions of sporting directors complaining about rivals over team radio that are now broadcast on the world feed, but the race director says he actually receives fewer messages as a result of the television involvement.

“I think to be fair each sporting team - and it’s no different in F1 - will utilize the radio knowing that it’s there," Masi said. "It’s been there for many years obviously, just broadcast now. If anything, now that the teams know that it’s broadcast, it’s actually probably reduced the radio traffic in race control and from a team’s perspective making them think twice before they ask a question.”