Max Verstappen risks F1 race ban after being handed another penalty
Max Verstappen was handed a 10-second time penalty after crashing into George Russell on the final lap of the Spanish Grand Prix
Max Verstappen has been hit with three penalty points on his license following a collision with George Russell during the Spanish Grand Prix's final stages. The Red Bull driver was also given a 10-second time penalty for an earlier incident involving Charles Leclerc, which resulted in him falling to 10th place.
Verstappen is now just one penalty point away from a potential race ban and must tread carefully at the Canadian Grand Prix in two weeks. After that race, two points will be removed from his license, providing him some leeway.
The Spanish GP, which had been relatively uneventful, was suddenly enlivened by a late safety car that grouped the drivers together. Verstappen, who had just switched to fresh hard tires, immediately found himself under attack from Charles Leclerc trailing behind.
- Novak Djokovic's physio undergoes emergency surgery at French Open
- NASCAR makes rule change over driver weight in middle of season
Contact between the Ferrari and Red Bull drivers resulted in Verstappen dropping to fifth place.
Verstappen then had to fend off Russell, a move his team deemed unfair. Upon being instructed by Christian Horner via team radio to let Russell pass, an irate Verstappen appeared to deliberately collide with the Mercedes.
Despite this, he continued to accelerate, maintaining his fifth position.
The stewards reported: "From the radio communications, it was clear that the driver of Car 1 was asked by his team to 'give the position back' to Car 63 for what they perceived to be an earlier breach by Car 1 for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage (in fact, we had later determined that we would take no further action in relation to that incident).
"The driver of Car 1 was clearly unhappy with his team's request to give the position back. At the approach to Turn 5, Car 1 significantly reduced its speed thereby appearing to allow Car 63 to overtake.
DON'T MISS
"However, after Car 63 got ahead of Car 1 at the entry of Turn 5, Car 1 suddenly accelerated and collided with Car 63. The collision was undoubtedly caused by the actions of Car 1. We therefore imposed a 10 second time penalty on Car 1."
Post-race, Russell remarked: "I'm too close to give my opinion on behalf of the drivers. It's like in Austin last year, some of the best moves ever then you go to Mexico and he lets himself down a bit.
"You go to Imola with one of the best moves of all-time, then this happens. It cost him and his team a lot of points. Charles and I actually dropped off like a stone on those last two laps.
"He probably could have come back to fight for the podium, so I won't lose any sleep [over it]. We have our own problems and that's making our car go faster."
