Max Verstappen handed another penalty Brazilian GP after F1 stewards’ investigation
Max Verstappen was hunting down Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris towards the end of the Brazil Sprint race and the stewards felt he crossed a line as he hunted down the McLarens ahead
Max Verstappen has been penalized for violating the virtual safety car rules towards the Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint race finish line.
The Dutchman already has a five-place grid penalty for the main Grand Prix on Sunday following an additional engine that had to be taken for the season. After the Sprint another punishment was on its way to him.
The stewards investigated the manner in which he managed the end of a Virtual Safety Car on the strident of the Sprint on Saturday. He was on the back of Oscar Piastri, who had just relinquished the lead in the final stages to allow his team-mate Lando Norris through.
Desperate to get past at least one of the McLarens if he could, Verstappen brought himself as close as possible to the back of Piastri’s machine at the message came through on the final lap that the Virtual Safety Car period was ending.
When yellow flags are waving, though, no overtaking is allowed and it is also not permitted for cars to pull alongside another either until racing resumes. Drivers must also adhere to a ‘delta’ lap time during a VSC period and, if they are found to have gone faster than that time, that too is an infringement.
It has now been confirmed that a five-second penalty has been given to Verstappen. He has also had another penalty point added to his license, meaning he now has seven to his name and his more than half-way towards a race ban which is imposed if a driver reaches 12 in as many months.
Explaining that decisions, the stewards wrote: The article 56.5 part of the rules also state it ‘All cars shall also be over this minimum time when FIA light panels go to green.’ The driver crossed the line at VSC End 0.63 seconds less than the minimum time when the FIA light panels switched to green. This reveals that the client has a sporting chance that was achieved under VSC.
The driver said that as he was waiting for VSC to complete and as he received a message that he was below the minimum time, he tried to adjust the error but was unable to do so by the time the panels went green. This is a breach and where the advantage has been taken during that period, the standard penalty applies. The net outcome of all this put the driver ahead of where he was at the beginning of the VSC and not due to the car in front slowing down.”
The penalty has relegated Verstappen to the fourth position in the final standing of the Sprint. It means Norris has a one-point lead on his championship rival and is now 44 points behind ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix at Interlagos.
The Brit said of his gifted victory in the Sprint: I am not particularly proud of it, however we worked as a team to get it done and I thank Oscar. So we have done a great job as team – this is what I wanted to see. Oscar deserved it but we did what was necessary to do.
