Verstappen to serve ten-second time penalty in race

2015 Canadian Grand Prix

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The stewards have confirmed Max Verstappen will have to serve a ten-second time penalty into the Canadian Grand Prix.

Verstappen was due to serve a ten-place grid penalty for using his fifth engine of the season, one more than the maximum allocation. However As he qualified 12th out of 19 qualifiers, and already had a five-place grid penalty to serve, only two out of the ten places could be counted.

Under new rules introduced this year, Verstappen therefore has to serve a ten-second penalty in the race. Drivers no longer carry over part of their power unit penalty to the next race.

The stewards also confirmed Jenson Button will be allowed to start the race despite not having set a time in qualifying.

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    16 comments on “Verstappen to serve ten-second time penalty in race”

    1. Just a thought, but depending on when they release Button from the pitlane (normally when last car has crossed the line), and given the nature of turn one, he could actually get out in front of some of the back makers. Maybe they will hold him longer because of that.

      1. lol i hope he does get out in front of manors. teach them some manners.

      2. they can only leave the pits after every car has passed pit exit.

    2. In an age where everyone is chunking about lack of racing, loss of audience and so on, i find it shortsighted to say the least to punish a young talented driver for racing. What happened in Monaco was racing at its best and Max was pushing. Yes he got caught out but that happens when you are racing and not hanging there waiting for the DRS zone to cruise by. But punish him more and we will have another compliant fool on track.

      The rules have mafe F1 so sterile that junior series are much more exciting. My kid’s karting is more raw than this advert parade.

      1. I fully agree Sergey. If you want to watch risk free processions, go to watch a Mardi Grass parade…
        But that can be quite boring if you were expecting a race….
        So I really hope Max will stick to his nature and show us some overtake maneuvers the real race fans love to watch and missed for a while.

        1. petebaldwin (@)
          7th June 2015, 11:03

          I agree as well. Sadly Max made the mistake of trying to race at a track which is not fit for purpose.

          He needs to carry on driving as he has been and it’ll pay off on the tracks suitable for F1 cars.

      2. A penalty for ruining the race of another driver with a huge crash just seems legit. If he had succeeded in his overtake it would have been a great move, but he crashed into Grosjean and the wall, so penalty. I don’t see any problem with this.

      3. Spafrancorchamps
        7th June 2015, 11:39

        I don’t agree. He made a mistake which cost Lotus and Grosjean a points finish.
        If you don’t punish this, you’ll get more do or die’s out there in the future when fighting for tenth place in the final part of the race. The car driving eleventh doesn’t score points in the first place, so he’s got nothing to lose..

      4. i agree with Sergey that Verstappen has been racing great, but that move in monaco was not “racing at its best” as he says, he was never in hell getting through in that turn, and grosjean did not even have to defend to prove that, verstappen crashed grosjean out of the points, cost himself a chance of points, and cam very close to injuring himself and grosjean. if that doesnt deserve a penalty then lets scrap penalties altogether and allow a free-for-all in f1.

      5. “Racing at its best”? It was quite a big error he made…

        1. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
          7th June 2015, 14:16

          @satchelcharge but racing.

      6. Grosjean was doing his own race. A few laps before, Verstappen was driving just metres behind Vettel, and there were blue flags being waved at Grosjean, so Grosjean was told by his team to let Vettel go past, but not Verstappen, and he did exactly that in what the race commentators was the one of the greatest overtake manouvers of all time. It was truly masterful. At the time there wasn’t any mention by the commentators that an appeal had been made to the stewards about this by STR, meaning Grosjean’s move was entirely legal. If it wasn’t, then STR would have filed a complaint to the stewards.
        Grosjean let Vettel go past on a difficult corner, but when Verstappen went to go past Grosjean’s car had moved forward just enough so there wasn’t any room for Vestappen to get passed. Grosjean was making sure that if Verstappen did overtake him, it was because he was truly driving a faster car, and that he had the level of skill to do it, and that he didn’t get that place by fortuitous chance (i.e. taking advantage of Vettel’s blue flag). Is that wrong? No, that is exactly what motor racing is all about: faster cars have to overtake slower cars at the right place, and the driver of the faster car has to have the right level of skill to do so safely. There isn’t any obligation (rules like blue flags aside) that says a slower car has to just let a faster car passed.
        The fact that Verstappen got stuck behind Grosjean for over one lap shows Verstappen wasn’t driving a significantly faster car than Grosjean, which meant he would have to use a lot of skill and finesse to overtake Grosjean.
        Is that wrong? No, it is entirely within the race rules, that a slightly slower car forces the driver of a slightly faster car to use skill and timing and finesse to overtake. Verstappen is in Formula 1, therefore he should have that level of skill.
        Monaco is a track that is famous for its difficulty in overtaking, meaning that even the current World Champion’s skill level may not be sufficient to just overtake. Look what happened to Hamilton when he came out behind Vettel and Rosberg on new soft tyres: he couldn’t overtake even one of the cars in front of him.
        The onus was on Verstappen to wait until he got to the correct place to overtake (or to wait for Grosjean to make a mistake, was very unlikely to happen), and to use a lot of skill to do so.

    3. verstappen has driven great this year, but the penalty is deserving, he crashed into the back of another driver in a suicidal attempt at passing. if only he wasnt so arrogant about the incident, everything would be ok again.

      1. It was clearly the fault of Grosjean. Driving like a wet newspaper and cause a dangerous situation when braking way too early before the normal braking point on the track. Max could just passed him right away, but because of the stupid and dangerous move of Grosejean Max hit him. Not Max’ fault !

        1. It was clearly the fault of Grosjean.

          Take your biased glasses of and read something else than those articles that consist of ridiculous finger pointing.

    4. I don’t have much to say to the comments picking appart words “racing at its best” . Obviously noone thinks crashing is racing at its best. The point i was making, if you try think and not nitpick at words, is giving it your best is discouraged. OHS says it is dangerous. Track too wet, driving too aggressive, petrol use too high, coast more to safe fuel and so on. Canada was sad with its “coast 50m, coast 100m, mode this, mode that”. Drivers with 50e6 euro salaries are not needed for this, let 2nd year engineering students drive these cars, they will do a better job.

      The sport is spinning megabucks, drivers earn millions but everyone wants a cool, predictable day at the office so that the sponsors are happy.

      I am an engineer and still follow F1 for some tech battles and in hope of an occasional spot of racing.

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