During the restart after the late safety car, Red Bull chose to send Verstappen out on hard tyres. On the straight, he was immediately overtaken by Charles Leclerc, while George Russell dived up the inside into Turn 1. This forced Verstappen off the track, albeit momentarily and being able to hold his position, which the in office Stewards deemed to be alright. If it were up to Herbert, though, Lambiase would have been right, and Verstappen should have given up the spot.

"It was George Russell’s corner, he was down the inside of Max Verstappen," says Herbert in a conversation with a betting site. "I know Verstappen may not agree that he lost the corner, but the drivers and stewards have to agree on the rules and standards of the racing." According to Herbert, Russell was completely in his right. "What Russell did was totally and utterly fair and racey, yeah, there was a little bit of contact but that’s racing. When you’re fully up the inside, it is your corner."

Herbert has no understanding for the fact that Verstappen didn't want to give back the place. "When you lose a corner, you have to slot in behind the car your racing. We can’t criticise Russell for trying to race, otherwise we’re killing the overtaker," continues Herbert firmly.

The former F1 steward does understand how Verstappen approached the situation. "Verstappen was brilliant with his judgement by staying very close to Russell’s tyres. The drivers are very clever, they know if they place the car in the right place, there will be a chance for the car next to them to understeer or oversteer and if you hang on then contact can happen then its straight on the radio to say ‘he hit me and pushed me off’."

Herbert therefore believes that Gianpiero Lambiase's call, Verstappen's race-engineer, was justified. "There’s an element that states if you’re not in control of the car, then it can be deemed that you didn’t complete the move. But, you can never be fully in control of the car when overtaking on a corner," he concludes.