Max Verstappen’s plight over the coming races is comparable to that experienced by another championship contender, Lewis Hamilton, nine years ago.
However the Red Bull driver’s predicament is more serious.Hamilton contested the second half of the 2016 season knowing that any infringement minor enough to trigger a reprimand would lead to a much stiffer penalty. He had already been reprimanded twice, and under the rules at the time a third such infringement would trigger a 10-place grid drop.
The stakes were high for Hamilton, as the championship fight was an all-Mercedes affair. Although he managed to avoid incurring the penalty, he lost the title fight to team mate Nico Rosberg.
But for Verstappen the potential penalty and damage to his championship hopes are much greater. A single penalty point at either of the next two rounds will result in an automatic race ban.
Stewards have issued penalty points for seven different kinds of violations over the past 12 months – the period in which they remain on drivers’ licences. However they are able to issue penalty points for other infractions.
Verstappen therefore must tread carefully – especially if he finds himself fighting wheel-to-wheel with another driver, as incidents relating to collisions or drivers being forced off are by far the most common cause of penalty points being issued.
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Causing a collision
Over the past 12 months, the stewards have dished out penalty points to drivers for causing collisions on 17 separate occasions. While most of those were for fairly ordinary incidents in race situations, others have been more unusual, such as Lance Stroll colliding with Charles Leclerc during a practice session in Monaco, or Verstappen’s loss of temper which led to his clash with George Russell at the last race.
| Driver | Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oscar Piastri | 3/11/2024 | Brazilian Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Causing a collision with car 30 in turn 1.’ | 2 |
| Oscar Piastri | 8/12/2024 | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 81 caused a collision with Car 43 before turn 6.’ | 2 |
| Max Verstappen | 30/6/2024 | Austrian Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Collision between Car 1 and Car 4 in turn 3.’ | 2 |
| Max Verstappen | 8/12/2024 | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 1 caused a collision with Car 81 in turn 1.’ | 2 |
| Max Verstappen | 1/6/2025 | Spanish Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 1 collided with Car 63 at turn 5.’ | 3 |
| Liam Lawson | 1/12/2024 | Qatar Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 30 caused a collision with Car 77 in turn 1.’ | 2 |
| Liam Lawson | 13/4/2025 | Bahrain Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 30 collided with Car 18 in turn 2.’ | 1 |
| Liam Lawson | 13/4/2025 | Bahrain Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 30 collided with car 27 in turn 1.’ | 2 |
| Liam Lawson | 3/5/2025 | Miami Grand Prix | Sprint race | ‘Car 30 collided with Car 14 in Turn 12.’ | 1 |
| Lance Stroll | 1/12/2024 | Qatar Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 18 caused a collision with Car 23 in turn 4.’ | 2 |
| Lance Stroll | 23/5/2025 | Monaco Grand Prix | Second practice | ‘Collision between Car 18 and Car 16 at Turn 6.’ | 1 |
| Fernando Alonso | 30/6/2024 | Austrian Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Collision between Car 14 and Car 24 in turn 3.’ | 2 |
| Jack Doohan | 22/3/2025 | Chinese Grand Prix | Sprint race | ‘Collision between car 7 and car 5 in turn 14.’ | 2 |
| Oliver Bearman | 3/11/2024 | Brazilian Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Causing a collision with car 43 in turn 10.’ | 2 |
| Alexander Albon | 1/12/2024 | Qatar Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 23 caused a collision with Car 20 in turn 1.’ | 2 |
| Franco Colapinto | 27/10/2024 | Mexican Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 43 collided with Car 30 at the exit of Turn 2.’ | 2 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 1/9/2024 | Italian Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 27 collided with Car 22 at the entry to Turn 1.’ | 2 |
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Forcing a rival off the track
The rules on when drivers are required to leave room for their rivals have also been tightened up since last season. Verstappen was twice penalised for forcing Lando Norris off on two separate occasions during the Mexican Grand Prix last year. He was only given penalty points for one of the infringements, so should perhaps consider himself fortunate he hasn’t already triggered a ban.
| Driver | Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Verstappen | 27/10/2024 | Mexican Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Forcing another driver off the track.’ | 2 |
| Jack Doohan | 23/3/2025 | Chinese Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Forcing another driver off the track in turn 14.’ | 2 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | 13/4/2025 | Bahrain Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 55 forced Car 12 off the track at turn 10.’ | 2 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 29/6/2024 | Austrian Grand Prix | Qualifying | ‘Car 27 forced Car 14 off track at turn 3.’ | 2 |
Failing to slow for yellow flags
Verstappen knows the rule book as well as anyone, and when he suspected Norris had failed to slow in reaction to yellow flags during last year’s Qatar Grand Prix he was quick to alert his team – and, therefore, the stewards. He suspected George Russell of doing the same in Miami this year but he was cleared despite Red Bull protesting their rivals after the race.
| Driver | Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lando Norris | 1/12/2024 | Qatar Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Car 4 failed to slow for double waved yellow flags.’ | 3 |
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Overtaking under a red flag
Failure to comply with safety regulations usually provokes a reaction from the stewards. They keep a close eye on how quickly drivers slow in response to warning flags and whether they maintain the correct running order as Oliver Bearman discovered to his cost in Monaco.
| Driver | Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oliver Bearman | 23/5/2025 | Monaco Grand Prix | Qualifying | ‘Car 87 overtook Car 55 under red flag.’ | 2 |
Falling too far behind under the Safety Car
One of the most minor offences Verstappen could commit which would trigger a ban is falling too far behind the Safety Car. This is an uncommon violation, however: Russell is the only driver to have committed it in the past 12 months.
| Driver | Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Russell | 1/12/2024 | Qatar Grand Prix | Grand prix | ‘Failed to maintain a 10-car-length distance behind the Safety Car’ | 1 |
Speeding under the Virtual Safety Car
Verstappen has already committed two other infringements which earned him a single penalty point on each occasion. In Brazil his eagerness to attack the leading McLaren drivers at the end of a Virtual Safety Car appeared to be the reason he failed to adhere to the delta time restriction.
| Driver | Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Verstappen | 2/11/2024 | Brazilian Grand Prix | Sprint race | ‘The driver was above the minimum time at VSC end.’ | 1 |
Driving unnecessarily slowly in qualifying
Finally, Verstappen’s penalty for driving unnecessarily slowly during a preparation lap in qualifying at Losail last year was unusual as the driver he impeded – Russell – was not on a timed lap. Verstappen was outraged by the decision but have even more to be unhappy about if it happened again under the current circumstances.
| Driver | Date | Event | Session | Infringement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Verstappen | 1/12/2024 | Qatar Grand Prix | Qualifying | ‘Car 1 drove unnecessarily slowly on a cool-down lap.’ | 1 |
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MacLeod (@macleod)
11th June 2025, 7:57
Speeding in the pitlane …… that is the easy one to get. I think Lewis got one or two several years ago. Any impeding during Qualify …..
PacificPR (@streydt)
11th June 2025, 12:14
I doubt it will be on Max’s mind anyway and as Keith pointed out in a previous article, will the stewards dare to give Max penalty points for small infringements? The FIA should have published Max way harder for his actions in Spain and will now have to navigate a seriously tricky situation.
BasCB (@bascb)
11th June 2025, 12:39
Yeah, the stewards will most likely do exactly the same as they did with Gasly, finding ever more curious reasons NOT to hand out a penalty point, when all other previous and concurrent infringements for the same do come with penalty points.
An Sionnach
11th June 2025, 23:59
Gasly deserved a ban. Blaming everyone but himself in Japan showed he had a bad attitude and needed to sit a race out.
MacLeod (@macleod)
11th June 2025, 12:44
@bascb correct
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
11th June 2025, 8:09
It would be interesting if he does get a point or two in the next couple of races, would a ban be the first time he has actually had to pay a price for his driving “style”
Applebook
11th June 2025, 15:16
He would have to do something absolutely insane to get any penalties. He can now do almost anything he wants without penalty points applied, but then again, he already drives this way. They could and likely would still hand out time penalties for blatant infractions.
NM
11th June 2025, 8:26
Driving in front of a backstabber during qualify should be enough!
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
11th June 2025, 8:45
Well, there are some things that I think Verstappen should have got penalty points for that he didn’t get, and at least one on this list that he shouldn’t have got any.
Starting with that, I think it is complete nonsense that Verstappen got a penalty point for driving too slow on a cool down lap in Qatar. That only got looked at because Russell claimed it to be “Super dangerous by Verstappen” to make it stand out as much as possible to the stewards. The fact is, Russell was on a cool down lap as well, so he had just as little need to be on the racing line as Verstappen, and there was nothing dangerous regarding what Verstappen did, which maked the penalty an odd one. It seemed to me like Russell was just using his powers of being in the GPDA to influence the penalty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCTVE7XUaVs
They say more about it here. I think that they often seem to skip out drivers being under the required times. The number of times no further investigation has gone ahead despite drivers being too slow makes it odd that they penalized Verstappen here. I still feel they won’t have penalized him if it wasn’t for Russell complaining. You can sort of see why the two dislike each other.
An area where I can’t understand how Verstappen didn’t get a penalty point (and grid penalty) was for the Miami sprint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJXCgF2ae9c&t=368s
Watch at 06:13
It was so clear that he impeded Stroll here, and Stroll was P16 and couldn’t progress though to Q2 and almost certainly would have without Verstappen doing what he did.
Verstappen was driving on the racing line on his outlap, while Stroll was on a timed lap and he had to steer around Verstappen literally at the stage he needed to be on the other side of the track to get the best line through the corner. I don’t quite believe that Stroll had to break where he claims he did, but he almost certainly did have to start lifting / breaking on far from the ideal line because of Verstappen, and as he was P16, not far from P15 at all, i think this clearly cost him a shot at Q2 and I don’t think this was even investigated…
Compare this to Monaco when Hamilton basically had a much harder time being able to get out of Verstappen’s way in qualifying, and it was down to his team, when it had no effect on Verstappen in the end and yet Hamilton got a 3 place grid penalty.
To me this was very clearly impeding, that actually prevented a driver progressing though to the next stage of qualifying, and even without the teams input, Verstappen should have been far more aware than he was. He even had the McLaren behind him have to weave around so he surely had to be aware there were cars on fast laps?
I wonder if it is treated differently because it was for the sprint? However, I think any other driver in a normal race qualifying session would have been penalized here.
An Sionnach
11th June 2025, 22:47
Agreed.
The impeding of Stroll was a strange one. Max seemed to be unaware of his surroundings in that qualifying session and was lucky. I expected this to be a grid drop. No penalty points, though.
Since the hardest to avoid penalties are to do with impeding in qualifying and those don’t usually come with penalty points, it should be in Max’s (and Red Bull’s) hands whether he gets those unwanted points.
S Arkazam
11th June 2025, 9:07
Verstappen might instead go for the full bingo card: fall too far back behind a SC whilst speeding in a yellow flag zone, and overtaking the car ahead when the red flag is subsequently waved.
PeteB (@peteb)
11th June 2025, 9:14
If you find yourself behind Max, it has to be full attack mode… Try and get to the apex first and let him push you off. It’s the equivalent of a football match where a hot-headed player picks up a booking and you spend the rest of the match standing on his feet when the ref isn’t looking. Max won’t adjust his style just because he’s 1 point away from a ban.
Applebook
11th June 2025, 15:17
If anything, he can be even more aggressive, knowing that they won’t dare suspend him.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
11th June 2025, 10:02
There should be penalty points for completing about another driver.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
11th June 2025, 11:31
Yes please. And points for lobbying for a penalty over the radio. I’m so fed up by this. After five races the whole grid will be banned. Maybe they’ll learn.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th June 2025, 12:23
Indeed, the suggestion is good, besides the wrong verb used!
Coventry Climax
11th June 2025, 11:47
If I may make a complete and a suchgestion hear:
Turn off you anticorrection.
;-)
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
11th June 2025, 16:08
“Autocomplain” is about right for me.
SteveP
11th June 2025, 18:16
I used “Auto-bollo*” so many times the iPhone actually suggests it as a word now :)
V. Chris (@vasschu)
11th June 2025, 11:17
If Max does not consider himself title contender, I would expect no change of his aggressive style. Actually Red Bull really look too far behind and FIA will be glad to add some “show element” and ban him. If he can’t compete for the title, he can at least provide decent episode for Netflix, right?
So i do think is likely to see this ban, and it will have 0 impact on the championship.
Coventry Climax
11th June 2025, 11:49
or on his future driving, I’d add.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th June 2025, 12:24
He could even say something like “Oh, I don’t mind, was looking forward to a holiday anyway!”.
MacLeod (@macleod)
11th June 2025, 12:50
@esploratore1 I think that is more the case which Horner fears…..
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
11th June 2025, 11:51
Mexico still baffles me. I’m still somehow convinced they accidentally got the incidents wrong. The first one really was nothing at all. Yes, he pushed Norris wide, but they didn’t touch and they even ended up in the correct order. A time penalty was already too harsh a penalty IMHO. The second one though was as bad as Spain. It was red mist all over again and a deliberate foul play nobody wants to see. 2 points are still too lenient, but better than none.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
11th June 2025, 13:05
@roadrunner The Mexico penalties were also odd in that the stewards originally announced no penalty points for either incident. Then they recalled their original decision on turn four and issued a “corrected” version which gave him two penalty points.
I agree with you, if penalty points were going to be given for either incident, I would have expected it to be the other way around. The turn eight incident was a lower-percentage move which occured at a much higher speed – had Norris not gone off the track to avoid contact there could have been a huge crash.
An Sionnach
11th June 2025, 17:42
Lower percentage is charitable in this case. Even without knowing intent, it was clumsy and dangerous enough to warrant a minimum of a ten second-stop-go penalty. I don’t think a driver that does such a move should be allowed to continue to circulate, though, and a black flag followed by a hosing down might be better. For the first incident, the move was on, but Verstappen came out on the wrong side of the margins of the rules. For that kind of thing, it should be sufficient if they surrender the position or face a penalty for not doing so. I wouldn’t expect penalty points for something like that.
Applebook
11th June 2025, 15:18
Intentionally trying to crash but failing should result in no penalty if the offender is Max.
Coventry Climax
11th June 2025, 11:59
The subtitle to the article reads:
But I don’t think any driver ‘must’ do anything, other than race with all their might and by the book.
And that’s where -at least part- of the trouble always seems to start; the book, how it leaves room for interpretation, and how it’s implemented.
Verstappen running into Russell like that is very clear and should never happen, but people tend to forget that there was and were things happening before that, which maybe were, let’s say, ‘obscure’ and triggered subsequent events.
Again, not saying he shouldn’t have kept his cool, but putting a finger on more sore spots than the FiA likes to recognise.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
11th June 2025, 12:26
Exactly, it was provoked by unfair actions from other drivers, and also a wrong decision by red bull, to give up the place to russell.
If you went back and did everything fairly you wouldn’t get the verstappen collision cause he wouldn’t have to give up the place in the first place.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
11th June 2025, 13:28
pretty much victim blaming then
Applebook
11th June 2025, 15:24
I love these rationalizations. By your logic, you can rationalize 90% of violent crimes because almost none of them happens without some sort of “provocation” or incident that led up to it.
Violent criminal A would not have seriously hurt someone if he had not been verbally abused by his father, and if the victim had simply apologized for accidentally bumping into him. Criminal A was justifiably triggered.
It doesn’t matter that your father verbally abused you, and that someone accidentally bumped into you without apologizing. You do not get to do what Max did. Would Russell have been justified in assaulting Max for the intentional crash? Of course not. Two wrongs do not make a right. There are lines that you do not cross, and intentionally crashing into someone in a non racing incident is the biggest sin in motorsport.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
12th June 2025, 0:28
I’m talking chronological order: if you correct the FIRST wrong that happened, the crash doesn’t happen after, cause verstappen would then have no reason to crash into russell.
This isn’t about what verstappen did being right or wrong, it’s about the presence of a wrong decision before that already.
2 wrongs don’t make a right doesn’t make sense to me here, cause without the first wrong the second doesn’t come.
MacLeod (@macleod)
11th June 2025, 12:51
kuch kuch Sebastian and Lewis not sure how many points that was but I think that wasn’t much.
RUTH222
11th June 2025, 22:26
He got 3, just like Verstappen.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
11th June 2025, 12:30
The ease/difficulty in getting points is a sliding scale. Easy if you have no points or just a few and then difficulty increases as you near the ban. If VER is banned, it will be from some irrefutable infraction.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
12th June 2025, 0:29
I tended to think that too, however magnussen got banned after a not too terrible infraction that time in monza, he even managed to get a point that race, which with haas wasn’t guaranteed at all.
Edvaldo
11th June 2025, 16:51
It’s difficult. The only reason he’s in this situation is because he was under pressure for the 2nd half of last season and trying to stay in the fight on the first half of this one. And that’s how he acts under pressure.
As soon as he’s out of contention, or starts to dominate again, the incidents will cease to happen.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
12th June 2025, 0:31
To be honest though, it’s normal that a driver doesn’t collect penalty points when dominating or when out of contention, it’s exactly in situations like this or last year that a driver is being tested in a pressure environment.
ADUB SMALLBLOCK (@waptraveler)
11th June 2025, 18:00
if I read it right, there were 7 categories analyzed, and Max had penalty points in 4 of them.
SteveP
11th June 2025, 18:19
So, nothing much beyond a complete change of driving style. No problem.
Mayrton
12th June 2025, 9:25
I am afraid this is all a theoretical discussion. We know by know the FIA is anything but consistent. They are politically triggered & driven when it comes to race control decisions and on top of that are very poor at it. So, the truth is we actually have no idea what is going to happen since it depends on interests behind the scenes which we are not part of nor have knowledge about and is up to clowns on top of that.
And whilst some would like to see Max get a race ban, I am convinced he doesn’t care at all what people would like, nor whether he gets a ban or not. People still don’t understand he doesn’t play along with this game. He is not interested at all in all this circus around the racing. He just goes racing and if he doesn’t, he doesn’t.. and just waits until he does again.
Coventry Climax
12th June 2025, 11:39
I agree.
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
12th June 2025, 23:22
F1 is a money machine. He they see value in it Verstappen will get a raceban. If they think they lose money he doesn’t. I guess some phone calls are already made. Politics.