There are many people in the Formula 1 paddock these days who really don't need to be there.

Ex-drivers with alimony to pay delivering tiresome ‘hot takes' into the microphones of any broadcaster willing to pay; the shuffling troglodytes inexplicably granted media credentials despite not writing anything (apart from "FIA accredited" in their social media bios); team personnel with no clear portfolio (memorably described by one eminent photographer as "full kit wankers"); and now the hordes of squealing randoms who, upon sight of someone they recognise from Drive to Survive, lose any shred of dignity they might once have had.

On Saturday in Mexico, Isack Hadjar was handed a summons from the stewards for "Alleged breach of Article 12.2.1.l of the FIA International Sporting Code - Misconduct, relating to an incident in the Formula 1 paddock". This pertained, essentially, to one of the many denizens of what has become a human zoo getting in his face for a ‘selfie', and Hadjar naturally taking exception to this thoughtless and entitled behaviour – albeit in the form of a shove.

Another one for the stewards to ruminate on at leisure after taking their sweet time over the FP2 contretemps between Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson. That was due to be "investigated after the session" but the final verdict – one-place gird drops for both – arrived so late in the evening that it would have been better for the communique to have said "investigated after port and cigars". But I digress.

Anyone who has heard Hadjar's team radio, or witnessed his sloop-shouldered do-I-have-to demeanour when tasked with anything other than driving a race car, will be manifestly aware he doesn't suffer fools gladly. This ‘fan' in the Mexico paddock picked the wrong mardy Frenchman when he decided to cross into Hadjar's personal space.

In temps perdu, the F1 paddock was a working space. Now, owing to the current commercial rights holder's slavish devotion to the tropes of late capitalism, it is treated like another ticket-selling opportunity.

For the most part, Hadjar manages fan interactions well

Photo by: James Sutton / LAT Images via Getty Images

"It's like a zoo," said Verstappen in a recent interview with the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. "Often, it's no longer possible to just have a quick chat with someone; that's effectively out of the question now. So, I mostly just move between my own room, the garage, and the pitlane.

"Even in our own hospitality areas, there are plenty of guests who want something from you. They mean well, of course, but I also need to be able to find some peace and quiet without being pestered all the time. I know it's just part of the job - that the better you perform and the more you achieve, the more people want something from you. In that sense, it's actually a good sign…"

Anyone with a public profile, especially via the fictionalised version of F1 presented on Netflix, is now in effect a prisoner in their own motorhome or garage. If they so much as poke their noses out of the door to sniff fresh air they risk being mobbed by VIP ticket holders with no sense of decorum or, indeed, personal space.

When did it become acceptable to treat drivers and other team personnel as objects?

There are those who say the phenomenon is worse in Mexico, and certainly there was an occasion some years ago when Verstappen had to spend an entire track session with the scent of beer filling his cockpit after an inebriated ‘fan' lurched in for a selfie and spilled their beverage on him. But actually this is now common to most destinations.

Last year there was an admittedly amusing moment at Zandvoort while Helmut Marko was giving his customary unofficial debrief to Dutch media. A well-lubricated individual gatecrashed the session with a Heineken in one hand and his phone in the other, bellowing, "Helmut! Helmut! Picture!"

Marko naturally gave him a short shrift but, several pints in, the guy was not to be dissuaded. Like a character from Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale, he joined the huddle and held his phone out as if he were participating in the interview, albeit somewhat unsteadily.

Verstappen has compared the current state of the F1 paddock to a zoo

Photo by: Kym Illman / Getty Images

When did it become acceptable to treat drivers and other team personnel as objects? It cuts to the heart of society's present fixation on celebrity, and the sense that if someone enjoys the financial rewards of being in the public eye, they are somehow obligated to allow themselves to be groped and manhandled. There seems to be no concept of whether ‘now' is the appropriate time and place – in this case, while running late for FP1. 

It's also worth pointing out that there is a subgenre of ‘influencer' nitwittery predicated upon deliberately provoking someone to get a response which is being covertly filmed. This may or may not be the case here. But during other grand prix weekends, day in, day out, Hadjar has generally indulged these requests.

Indeed, Hadjar had just stopped to furnish a child with a selfie when the "incident" took place. This was factored into the mitigation, along with the "uninvited and rather aggressive action" of the other guest. Hence Hadjar was handed a formal warning rather than any other punishment for a breach of Article 12.2.1.l, which carries a maximum fine in these circumstances of €40,000.

I'd have been tempted to give him one of those medals the FIA president likes to distribute on the podium. Speed the day the Drive to Survive bubble bursts and these bothersome freeloaders abandon ship for some other vacuous celebrity obsession, leaving grand prix racing to those who actually enjoy the racing.

Perhaps fans should give drivers more space in future

Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images