"Ex steward for a reason btw": Fans react to Johnny Herbert's criticizing Red Bull's Christian Horner for backing Max Verstappen in Jeddah

F1 fans were left fuming after former F1 driver and pundit Johnny Herbert criticized Red Bull team principal Christian Horner for backing Max Verstappen in Jeddah. The Dutch driver was penalized at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for cutting the chicane at Turn 1 and keeping hold of his P1 against his battle with Oscar Piastri.

The 27-year-old had been second-best to make the corner after he had a slower start than Piastri, but managed to get wheel-to-wheel; however, he was unable to find room in Turn 1. Verstappen was given a five-second penalty by the race stewards, which cost him the chance to win for the second time in five races.

Speaking with Beste Online Casino Nederland, Johnny Herbert, who was previously an FIA steward until last year, criticized Horner for defending Max Verstappen's penalty and calling it unjust. The F1 pundit said:

“I don’t know how people will argue that it was an unfair penalty. The people arguing against it have probably never been in a race car, and definitely not in an F1 car, so they have zero understanding. I’ll include Christian Horner in this, too."

“I know he’s the team principal and he’s trying to do what’s best for Red Bull, but sometimes you have to just admit you’re wrong and give the place back. Horner then came up with the picture of evidence to show who was in front in Turn 1, which was a load of baloney, but to me, it was passing the buck to the FIA and the stewards," he added.

F1 fans reacted to Johnny Herbert's harsh words directed at Christian Horner on X, with one fan claiming:

"Ex steward for a reason btw."

"Herbert is a 🫏 🤡 and should have been removed from duty last year like the others."

"The F1 steward they removed for being biased would like to comment on the penalty? Save your baloney thoughts, Johnny," said a fan.

Here are some more reactions:

"Still don't understand how in the world he could ever be a steward, he's so anti-Max," pointed out a fan.

"Why are we still interviewing Johnny Herbert?" asked another.

"Can we please stop giving this has been attention?" wrote another.

Max Verstappen finished the race last weekend in P2 and had a gap of 2.8s to Oscar Piastri at the chequered flag.

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Red Bull team boss questions the rules after Max Verstappen's penalty

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner suggested that the rules needed to be looked over after he believed that Max Verstappen's penalty in Jeddah was a "marginal call".

Speaking with PlanetF1, the 51-year-old in his defense of the Dutchman said:

“We’ll ask them to have a look at the onboard footage that wasn’t available at the time. When you look at that, I can’t see how they got to that conclusion. They’ve both gone in at the same speed. Oscar has run deep into the corner. So perhaps these rules need a relook at. I don’t know what’s happened to ‘let them race’ on the first lap. That seems to have been abandoned.”

Max Verstappen sits in P3 in the driver's championship and has a gap of 12 points to Oscar Piastri, who is in P1 with 99 points.