.<\/span><\/p>\nThe three-time Grand Prix winner revealed his side of the story on how the decision was made to let him go, and the fallout that followed, including abusive messages over social media.<\/span><\/p>\nSpeaking after the F1 launch event at the O2 Arena in London, where Red Bull star Max Verstappen and team principal Christian Horner were both booed by the crowds, Herbert addressed their treatment and how he holds no grudges over his own experiences of late.<\/span><\/p>\nRead the full interview below:<\/span><\/p>\nAfter the decisions on swearing and now a demand that people sign NDAs to attend meetings, some people have called the FIA control freaks. What do you think?<\/b><\/p>\n
JH:<\/strong> “There does seem to be a more controlling factor coming into play.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nDave Richards was one of those who refused to sign an NDA and therefore wasn’t allowed into the room for the World Motor Sport Council meeting earlier this week.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nDave’s been around the world for many a decade [as a former British American Racing team principal who also heads Motorsport UK] and a big part of the FIA at the same time.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nSigning an NDA and confidentiality agreements is not the norm, but it’s becoming the norm.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nThere definitely seems to be a more heavy-handed way of dealing with things now.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nDoes it make you reflect on the decision to part ways with you as a steward?<\/b><\/p>\n
JH: <\/strong>“<\/em>I hadn\u2019t thought of it that way. My position is slightly different because I was an FIA steward and so it wasn’t deemed to be the right thing for a steward to be able to talk about situations that have happened or have an opinion even on situations that hadn’t happened over a particular race weekend.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nWhat was the process behind how you were let go?<\/b><\/p>\n
JH: <\/strong>“<\/em>It didn\u2019t come from within the FIA initially. It was all to do with chitter chatter to the FIA that made them change their point of view.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nEverything I’d done all year long in 2024 had been discussed and accepted.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nTwo days before I was eventually given the sack over the phone, I\u2019d been told all was good for 2025. Then it wasn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nI understand how everything came about. But I am not going to point the finger. But as I said, there were certain people who did actually speak with the President [of the FIA] and that’s why the president finally made that decision to get rid of me.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nThen [Christian] Horner and Max [Verstappen] were booed at the season launch on Tuesday. The FIA said that was wrong. To me it was more aimed at Christian because the booing started when he came on the stage and started talking.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nNow it has gone a step further with the FIA saying that that’s not the right way of doing things and that booing is not always a good thing. But you should be able to express yourself in any way you want to.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nThen what’s come out of that situation at the launch is then I’ve read about Max and Jos [Verstappen] saying they won\u2019t come back to London next year if the launch is there again.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nWhat do you think about the feeling in the Netherlands?<\/b><\/p>\n
JH: <\/strong>“<\/em>The Verstappens keep intimating there\u2019s a bias. I keep reading about the supposed bias. I read that and then wonder, \u2018So I can’t support a British driver because I’m British?\u2019<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nI can’t support Lewis or George or Lando. It\u2019s ridiculous.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nBut coming the other way is fine apparently as was the case in what happened with me.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nIf you\u2019re a Dutchman, you can sort of have a go at the Brits and say the Brits have got no real morals for how they are as race fans. It\u2019s supposed to go both ways isn\u2019t it.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nNow that time has passed, how are you feeling about the situation and what came to pass?<\/b><\/p>\n
JH: <\/strong>“<\/em>I’m absolutely fine with it. It was upsetting at the time because I enjoyed it, and I felt that I was doing the best job and with no bias towards anybody.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nI had rules and guidelines that I had to deal with, not on my own, but with three other FIA stewards as well.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nI don’t think I was doing anything that was favouring anybody. I only did what I thought was necessary. If it was Lewis, if it was Max, if it was Lando, or any of the drivers on the racetrack.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nI had no bitterness towards any of those drivers to decide, \u2018well I don’t like him, so I’m going to give him a penalty just because.\u2019<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nThat\u2019s not how it works, and it never will work like that. That’s where I felt that the way it was aimed at me, accusing me of bias, was absolutely ridiculous.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nBut that’s where there has been this continual British bias talk for some reason, and I don’t get it.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nSky have been getting it as well. But they’re a goddamn British broadcaster! So, you’re going to favour your own British drivers.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nWhat happens for instance when the football World Cup happens? Will you support your team? Yes, absolutely. I don’t see any difference from that point of view.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nAm I biased? Absolutely not.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nHow do you reflect on your time at the FIA?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
JH: <\/strong>“<\/em>Good. I thoroughly enjoyed it because I thought it was an important job at the weekend. The race weekend doesn’t happen without those stewards because we have to sign all the documentation to allow the weekend to happen and continue throughout it. And then there are those horrible decisions that sometimes we have to make.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nA judgment is made based on everything that’s put in front of us from those guidelines and those rules. I thoroughly enjoyed being in that environment where it was really interesting.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nThey’re very different sides that were going on throughout the weekend, from the drivers to the teams, to the politics that were involved with the drivers and the teams at the same time. It\u2019s fascinating. I’ve been there. I’ve been involved with it. I’ve seen it. And it’s different than it was. But that’s with everything in life. Everything changes and everything becomes more complicated.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nHorner was pretty quick to back the FIA statement. Was the booing at the 02 Arena a fair reflection of overall fan sentiment?<\/b><\/p>\n
JH: <\/strong>“<\/em>It\u2019s not for me to sort of judge Christian in any shape or form. But I guess there\u2019s a feeling now, because of everything that’s going on within the team, everything that’s gone on with Max on the track that Christian and Red Bull have been stirring it all up in many respects.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nChristian doesn’t hold back when he talks and he will only do things that benefit him, that benefit Red Bull and benefit Max. So, there’s always going to be the bad boy in the pack.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nRed Bull have historically always been very on the edge, always pushing the boundaries, that’s part of the game. But I think people did, for whatever their reasons were, show their disappointment or their frustrations, maybe with everything that’s been going on.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nHow have people from within Formula 1 responded to you in recent weeks?<\/b><\/p>\n
JH: <\/strong>“<\/em>Largely positive. You’re always going to get the negative ones.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nThey all come invariably from a lot of people who have been highly critical of me who haven’t been very nice in their comments that they’ve made on social media.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nI’ve learnt to deal with it and it doesn’t affect me. I find it ridiculous because whoever criticised me, there was obviously some criticism within the paddock and outside the paddock, have absolutely no clue what happens in that steward\u2019s room and how honest we have to be.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nThere are those guidelines and those rules and we have to apply them. It doesn’t matter who it is. You have to apply them. And that’s the professionalism from a career as a driver myself, that I took into that room. And that’s where people don’t understand that I can have my opinions when I’m outside that room and away from that race weekend.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nWhat do you make of reports that Susie Wolfe might be positioning herself to challenge MBS at the FIA?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
JH: <\/strong>“That should not be a problem.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nShe’s got a wealth of experience as a driver in various forms of motorsport from her time at Williams and driving F1 cars, so the GTM series, the German Touring Car Series as well, obviously being married to Toto, obviously now doing the F1 Academy at the same time. She’s got a lot of good experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nShe’s a very clever lady that could add a lot to the future of F1.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nIf she feels she can add something, then why not?”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ex-Formula 1 driver and former steward Johnny Herbert has opened up about the FIA\u2019s decision to sack him ahead of the 2025 season in an exclusive interview with CasinoApps.com. The three-time Grand Prix winner revealed his side of the story on how the decision was made to let him go, and the fallout that followed, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":45820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1454],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Johnny Herbert Interview: What really happened between me and the FIA, why I don\u2019t point the finger at Christian Horner or the Verstappens, and the message sent by the boos at the O2 Arena - Latest Casino Apps & Other Apps News - Casinoapps.com<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n