The analysts of Studio Football enjoyed the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia on Sunday. Max Verstappen finished second behind Lewis Hamilton in the race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, which was riddled with incidents and controversy. Pierre van Hooijdonk, normally not an F1 fan, was full of excitement in front of the television and saw a ‘unique in sport’ taking place.
During a break, a penalty for Verstappen was openly negotiated for overtaking competitor Lewis Hamilton outside the track. Race director Michael Masi made Red Bull, Verstappen’s team, a proposal for a penalty: at the second restart, Verstappen would start from third place, behind Esteban Ocon and Hamilton. Red Bull was given a few minutes to consider the offer. If refused, the incident would presumably have been further investigated and threatened with a time penalty, possibly of five or ten seconds.
Red Bull gets an offer from the FIA about the restart??
In the end, Red Bull agrees to the Ocon – Hamilton – Verstappen starting grid ??#ZiggoSport #F1 #SaudiArabianGP ???? pic.twitter.com/c3YYRomZY5— Ziggo Sport Racing (@ZS_Racing) Dec 5, 2021
Red Bull discussed the offer internally and agreed. “It’s great, isn’t it, with that negotiation?” says Van Hooijdonk. “I thought it was unique in sport. You then try to translate it to football. If someone commits a serious violation, you could say: well, say it, a red card or a penalty kick?” Theo Janssen also enjoyed the images: “Yes, that the FIA just says: what do you want?”
Janssen speaks of a ‘sizzling’ race. “I even got a message from Pierre, who said: ‘Tonight we are only going to talk about Formula 1 and not about football. What happened today was of course bizarre.” Van Hooijdonk does not often watch F1, but thought the entertainment value on Sunday was high. “Now something happened, outside the start and the finish. I liked that. It was a kind of fair with bumper cars.”