An F1 Steward Received Death Threats Following Max Verstappen's Penalty In The US GP

On the last lap of last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Max Verstappen put an incredible pass on Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen to pinch the final place on the podium, having started way down in 16th.

The only trouble is that he cut the track to do so, and that’s not allowed. The stewards swiftly decided to give him a five-second time penalty, dropping him back to fourth. It was a controversial call, given that other drivers had exceeded track limits in the weekend and got away with it, so naturally discussion after the race turned to whether it was a just penalty.

Now it’s fine to disagree with a decision, and even get a little angry about it, but some supposed ‘fans’ have (ironically) stepped way over the line. Mika Salo, an ex-F1 racer and former Ferrari driver was on the FIA’s panel of stewards for the race, and he revealed that he’s actually received death threats over the decision.

Yup, really. He told Finnish website SuomiF1:

“I have received death threats, mainly from Holland. The change in the Wikipedia article was a fun joke, but threats to me and other members of the jury should not be tolerated.”

Oh yeah, the Wikipedia edits. After the race some disgruntled fans went to his page and put in all sorts of ridiculous conspiracy theories, like “Mika Salo is rumoured to be involved in the largest FIA corruption scandal of 2016/2017,” and “as a steward of the FIA he helped Ferrari by giving Max Verstappen unreasonable penalties”.

Yeah, stuff like that can be kind funny because it’s obviously just a joke, but death threats? Really? Come on, guys…