Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has had one penalty point added to his FIA superlicence after being found to have made a Virtual Safety Car rules breach during the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race.
It comes in addition to the five-second penalty Verstappen received following the sprint race, dropping him from third to fourth in the final classification.
FIA confirm further Max Verstappen punishment after Brazilian GP sprint VSC reach
Verstappen finished third on track in the sprint race at Interlagos as McLaren driver and F1 2024 title rival Lando Norris took victory with the help of McLaren team orders.
The sprint was put under Virtual Safety Car in the closing laps at Sao Paulo after Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas came to a halt at the side of the track carrying a suspected exhaust issue.
As the race was preparing to resume, Verstappen momentarily pulled alongside Norris’s team-mate Oscar Piastri on the approach to Turn 4, one of the key overtaking spots on the Brazilian GP, before backing out of a potential move as the pair reached the corner.
The incident occurred while the race was still under VSC conditions, which obliges competitors to drive to a so-called ‘delta time’ to prevent competitors from gaining an unfair advantage while the race is neutralised.
The FIA confirmed ahead of Saturday’s qualifying session that Verstappen had been slapped with a five-second penalty for the incident, dropping him to fourth behind Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.
And F1’s governing body has confirmed that Verstappen has also received one penalty point, putting him on seven accrued over the last 12 months.
Drivers face a one-race ban if they collect 12 penalty points over a 12-month period, with Hulkenberg’s Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen becoming the first driver to be banned under the system earlier in F1 2024.
If Verstappen does not commit any further offences, his tally is set to decrease by two points on November 19 when his penalty for forcing Leclerc off track at last year’s Las Vegas GP falls out of the 12-month window.
The stewards’ verdict for Verstappen’s penalty in the Brazilian GP sprint read: “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 1 (Max Verstappen), team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, timing, telemetry evidence.
“Article 56.5 states in part ‘All cars must also be above this minimum time when the FIA light panels change to green.’
“The driver was 0.63 seconds below the minimum time at VSC End when the FIA light panels changed to green. This indicates a sporting advantage gained under VSC.
“The driver explained that as he was awaiting VSC to end and he got the notification that he was below the minimum time, he attempted to correct the error but failed to do so by the point that the panels turned green.
“This is a breach and the standard penalty is applied for the advantage gained at that time.
“The net effect of this put the driver ahead of where he was at the start of the VSC and not as a result of the car in front falling back.”
Verstappen’s latest punishment from the FIA comes after the three-time World Champion was hit with two 10-second time penalties – in addition to two licence points – in last weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, after he was involved in two separate incidents with Norris
The incident reopened the debate over driving standards in F1, with Verstappen’s conduct in wheel-to-wheel situations coming under scrutiny from a number of pundits and F1 insiders – including former F1 race winner Johnny Herbert, who was on the stewards’ panel in Mexico.
Speaking in an independent capacity earlier this week, former Sky F1 television pundit Mr Herbert criticised Verstappen’s “horrible mindset” in battle and described his acts against Norris as an “absolute no no.”
Mr Herbert is also present on the four-man stewards’ panel in Brazil this weekend.