’Mature’ Verstappen took punishment seriously - Liuzzi

Former F1 driver Vitantonio Liuzzi says Max Verstappen took his ’community service’ at a recent Formula E race seriously.

Verstappen had been sentenced to the community service by the FIA after violently confronting Esteban Ocon after the Brazilian grand prix.

The Dutchman disagreed with the penalty, insisting he would not do anything that makes him "look silly".

The FIA duly sent him to Morocco to observe the stewards officiating at a Formula E race.

One of the stewards was Liuzzi, a former F1 driver.

"Verstappen’s approach was very balanced," he told Italy’s Autosprint.

"He immediately showed a lot of interest in the work of the stewards, and we involved him, asking him from time to time to consider the incidents of the race.

"On this occasion I saw him behaving even more maturely," Liuzzi added.

"When we talked about his formula one season, he did not insist on asserting his side of certain topics.

"He was with the stewards from seven in the morning until the end of the race, never taking a break and sometimes with several hours with nothing to do. But he was never distracted and always focused," he said.

Like Verstappen, Liuzzi was a product of Red Bull’s F1 development programme. He raced for Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Force India and HRT until 2011.