Max Verstappen will race his rivals no differently in the upcoming races despite the looming threat of a ban following his collision with George Russell in the Spanish Grand Prix.
The stewards added three penalty points to Verstappen’s licence after he provoked a collision with the Mercedes after slowing to allow Russell to catch him. Now on a total of 11 penalty points, he will incur an automatic ban if he collects one more over the next two rounds.Two of his penalty points will expire at the end of this month. However beyond that he will remain three points away from a ban for another eight rounds.
Verstappen said the prospect of having to miss a race doesn’t concern him too much. “If you look at it in general, I mean missing a race is not ideal but it’s not the end of the world,” he told the official F1 channel.
He received nine of his points for incidents involving other drivers. The other two came for a Virtual Safety Car infringement and an incident in qualifying at Losail last year.
He said he doesn’t plan on adjusting his approach to avoid collecting further penalty points. “It’s there, right? I mean there’s nothing that you can do about it,” he said.
“So we’ll just focus ahead, try to do the best we can every single time. It’s not changing my approach and I cannot speak for others.”
Although Verstappen refused to explain the collision immediately after the race, on the day after he issued a statement on social media blaming “frustration” for the incident. “I explained immediately on the Monday my views so [I’ll] just move on and try to have a good weekend here,” he added.
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2025 Spanish Grand Prix
- Russell’s radio comments influenced Red Bull’s decision to let him past Verstappen
- Verstappen says he won’t make any changes to his driving to avoid a ban
- ‘No issues’ with Verstappen but ‘it’d be different if he’d taken me out’ – Russell
- Ferrari “don’t want us to talk much” about “massive” Spanish GP problems – Hamilton
- Verstappen versus Russell is Formula 1’s best grudge match for years
Seppo (@helava)
13th June 2025, 2:37
This is how you know a penalty isn’t strong enough. You have to raise the consequences until the desired behavior is changed.
Jazz (@jazz)
13th June 2025, 3:24
Exactly this. However I believe Verstappen is the exception to the rule in that only he is bullish enough to think this way. Or he’s projecting being unaffected by a potential race ban as a defence mechanism to dissuade other drivers exploiting his temporary weakness.
So the approach would need to be a race ban until the points expire to under twelve, or strengthen the imposure of the ban to additional races and/or a driver’s championship points deduction.
MacLeod (@macleod)
13th June 2025, 7:35
Like all Dutch Max would take notice but then ignore it because you have a job to do. And if he get banned all points are wiped BUT more important He gets a vacation ….
Mayrton
13th June 2025, 8:27
On the contrary, it says a lot about the stewarding. Max’ strategy would be my strategy too, since it is clear that the drivers are subject to the arbitrariness of Race Control anyway. They have totally disqualified themselves, so who cares what they rule, it is just something that happens, like rain or not. Whatever happens, just take it and move on.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
13th June 2025, 9:21
He doesnt usually deliberately crash into drivers. Usually he forces them to drive off the circuit so as not to crash. Something he has rarely been censored for. Why should he change?
Patrick (@paeschli)
13th June 2025, 6:37
Were people on this website really expecting him to say this instead?
MacLeod (@macleod)
13th June 2025, 7:38
@paeschli Your right ofcourse most Dutch would react like that we call that british humour or Sarcastic.
What are people thinking he is going to change lol
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
13th June 2025, 8:28
Exactly. Max Verstappen is a 4 time world champion, he’s fierce and he pushes the limit. He’s not going to change something a driving style that’s given him very good results.
SteveP
13th June 2025, 18:26
Three plus a dodgy gift from a disgraced official, but yeah ‘multiple champion’
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
13th June 2025, 9:23
No one and no one is suprised he has said that
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
13th June 2025, 8:40
Would not be surprised if Max purposely picks up a penalty point for like speeding in pit lane or just too late braking for yellow or just to quick under VSC.
Still funny that neither Norris nor George got any penalty points for completely messing up safety car starting procedure which was an actual safety risk – while Max got 1 point for driving a bit too fast under VSC.
I expect he will plan it nicely so that he misses the next race that just happened to fall together with an real or virtual world endurance race – suddenly making him available to participate in endurance racing.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
13th June 2025, 11:02
If anything, he’d probably have preferred if he had been given a ban after Spain, freeing him up to do Le Mans.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
13th June 2025, 8:56
Where can I buy that limited edition Race Ban Countdown Cap?
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage- Special Unhinged Edition (@davedai)
13th June 2025, 9:48
simplylovly@DILLIGAFdotned?
SteveP
13th June 2025, 18:29
I’m a nice person (honest) and I have a bag of F*s if he’s short.
Philip (@philipgb)
13th June 2025, 11:28
A race ban can be seen as a potential 25 point loss. How many points has Verstappen gained through his on track antics and reputation?
Much like big corporations accepting large fines as part of the cost of doing business, I imagine a single race ban (which may not even come to fruition) is simply a good trade off for the results Verstappen achieves because drivers simply approach him differently or he prevents a points loss to a competitor. Even just the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix, rather than losing 7 points to Norris he gained 10 on him. Those two penalty points alone were worth 17 championship points
When you look back at how Grosjean was given a race ban in 2012 for mistakes, I think it’s a farce that Verstappen’s antics have still only left him at risk of one
osnola
13th June 2025, 12:21
Strange people seem to do not understand the concept of accepting the situation and make the best of it.
There is nothing he can do to avoid a extra point without driving as a grandma.
We have seen ( and Villeneuve for one agrees) that other drivers get away with no penalty points for hitting a driver and pushing him off track (Russell)
So to say the least: the penalty point system is still broken and inconsequent to say the least.
He made an apology for his actions, something again is missing in this article. Just like the one before ( its hard to point which one as there are a lot of VER articles when he makes on of his rare mistakes
The Dolphins
13th June 2025, 12:40
You’re missing the point. Max did not bump a driver off track in head-to-head racing, he used his car to ram another driver because of his uncontrolled anger or as he calls it, “frustration.” This is why his penalty is inadequate and inconsistent with prior rulings.
While other rulings may be questioned it doesn’t excuse this one from being questioned as well.
The Dolphins
13th June 2025, 12:32
It would be ironic if, 7 years on, in Canada again he said he would “headbutt” the next person to question his driving style.
David BR (@david-br)
13th June 2025, 12:58
I wouldn’t expect Verstappen to say any different. Do? We’ll find out I guess. His car handling is supreme, zero doubt about that. His racing is also usually inch perfect. But his whole racing rationale is push to the absolute limit and a bit beyond. Always be the driver last to back out of a dispute. He clearly knows the racing rules inside-out and listens word-for-word to the pre-race driver briefings to work out what (he think) will be permitted by the stewards. In the races he calculates what will work best, an infringement and penalty or playing by the rules. But he’s an emotional driver, just as much as Hamilton or Leclerc or Senna before them, and he tips into excess and anger. The collision with Russell was a clear example, pointless, 9 points less, and a negative for himself and his team.
I really don’t mind Verstappen testing the limits – if FIA are able to penalize adequately when he exceeds them. And since he’s always at the limits of the permissible, they have their work cut out. He deserved a race ban for colliding with Russell on purpose. I don’t get commentators like Saward or Windsor saying he ‘shouldn’t’ have done that but simultaneously complaining about calls for a severer penalty. Just take the punishment if you break the rules. Foul someone in football? Red card, off the pitch, where’s the issue? You’re back in a match or two.
If Verstappen gets another point, so what? I kind of agree with his attitude, therefore, I just disagree – almost inevitably – about his self-serving interpretation of incidents where he clearly transgressed the existing rules but thinks he was in the right. But I also shrug that off as obvious in a competitor at the peak of his sport. I prefer Verstappen’s attitude to Norris’s, for example, but think FIA need to catch up more quickly and penalize more readily when he goes too far.
An Sionnach
13th June 2025, 17:04
I agree. He knows what he can do and does it. He often makes the rules difficult to apply because there are so many marginal cases. No problems with that. When it isn’t marginal and when someone uses their car as a weapon, they should be promptly removed from the track and not let back for an amount of races suiting the transgression. Like the rules, these are not written just for Max, but for anyone. In sport there needs to be fairness. If one driver can threaten others with brake testing and other behaviour then they have an unfair advantage. I watched a camogie game a while back where the Galway ladies lost… but they were actually playing the game. The referee was not penalising the other team for not following the rules and they won. This isn’t the only sport where this happens. Such lax refereeing can send a sport into a downward spiral.
David BR (@david-br)
13th June 2025, 18:19
Fortunately the Masi downward spiral was halted post-2021. But when you’ve a competitor who looks at whatever the current rules are and thinks how to push them a little beyond, or exploit a loophole, the adjudicators are always playing catch up I guess. Like I said, I think Max operates between exploiting them to the limit and losing his cool (usually after a sequence of in-race events has tipped his mindset into ‘red mist’), leading to definite infringements. We’ve seen that numerous times in races, enough to identify a pattern.
An Sionnach
14th June 2025, 0:24
You’ve gone beyond the extent of my agreement here. I don’t have a problem with Masi or Max in general and I think you are extrapolating too much from a rare (and huge) mistake to paint Max in a bad light. I think Lewis should have been black flagged for Silverstone 2021, with a review to look at possible race bans, just like Max in Barcelona.
You seem to be saying two different things in your comments. The first indicates respect and even affection for Max, that he is on the limit of the rules (which is perfectly fine), while stating that the rules should be firm for all (I agree). In the second you’re painting Masi and Max as pantomime villains, which they are not. Adrian Newey has already spoken on the demonisation of Max.
I will step back from this specific discussion but recommend that if anyone foams at the mouth at the thought of the existence of Max and Schumacher, they need to cop onto themselves. There’s a ceremony detailed in Nineteen Eighty-Four called the Two Minutes of Hate. This forum seems very susceptible to it. The subject: Whatever Max did today. The verdict: ban him! Anyway, it’s your credibility. You can do with it as you wish…
David BR (@david-br)
14th June 2025, 2:47
You’re mixing everything up. I’m not saying two different things: I said quite clearly that Max tends to push to the limits of the rules, which is fine, sometimes goes beyond them, also fine, but I expect penalties where necessary to police those rules, and sometimes he loses his cool and clearly drives rashly or way beyond the rules. There are plenty of examples (Russell last race, Norris last year, a list of them in 2021). I’ve said before he’s not a dangerous driver in general, though sometimes risks aren’t so easy to calculate. And yes I respect his driving and racing skills and his general competitiveness. Personally I’m very far from hating him, he adds immensely to Formula 1. However, I’m not a fan of the Red Bull senior personnel and I do get frustrated by FIA’s leniency. All of those things are possible. Formula 1 is a complex sport.
David BR (@david-br)
14th June 2025, 2:58
I mean, it’s basically what his own team boss has just said:
Obviously Horner downplays the ‘misjudgements’ but he’s recognizing that occasional loss of control.
SteveP
13th June 2025, 18:45
Which served him so well at Silverstone 21 (not), when not pushing to hit the apex would have been a long term thinking solution.
Ramming Russell in Spain left him with one single point, whereas thinking long term would have given him ten points.
David BR (@david-br)
14th June 2025, 11:58
I agree but it’s not his way (maybe in a Chinese ‘dao’ sense).I’m still waiting to see a fairly adjudicated battle between Vertappen and another top driver in virtually equal cars (over a season) to see which approach to racing wins out. Maybe if Red Bull improve some it could still happen this season.
Peat Smoke
13th June 2025, 14:29
Good. Keep pushing the envelope and let’s see whether the FIA has guts to ban you.
In 2021, in Abu Dhabi, they didn’t give Hamilton a reprimand for impeding Mazepin in the third practice session, something he had gotten reprimanded for in Saudi Arabia. It would’ve been his third one and resulted in a 10 place grid penalty. They didn’t do it, of course, because it would’ve killed the championship showdown.
Now, Max isn’t really in a fight with the McLarens, but he’s been making this season exciting.
An Sionnach
13th June 2025, 14:43
Has anyone bothered to find out what the “damage” was that George reported? It sounded grave when he reported it on the radio, but then this is often the case with the boy who cried Wolff.
Mercedes later reported the “damage” as a “rash” (so scrapes). Could George really feel that or did he get out and look?
David BR (@david-br)
13th June 2025, 15:45
I really don’t understand your rationale. Verstappen complained that Leclerc ‘rammed’ into his car, Russell complained that Verstappen crashed into his. What’s the difference? Both were right. Of course Verstappen and Russell alike attempt to maximize their complaints and potential penalties for their opponents after they’ve been hit. So why pick up on only one of them for doing so? Given what MV caused to him, Russell was lucky he didn’t pick up significant damage, Verstappen certainly didn’t care either way.
An Sionnach
13th June 2025, 16:47
I’ve been clear about how I think Max should have been penalised and that he should also apologise to George and the fans. George said that he had damage on the radio when he didn’t. This is not an isolated incident for George and it is not the same as reporting rivals for infringements or reporting issue they have honestly. I’m not surprised that the “justice”-seekers who would pursue Max even if what he did was within the rules are uninterested in George’s more minor transgression. It is fair and even-handed to say that George has little credibility at this stage and he’s like a diver in football. He should get a yellow card for it some day…
Again, Alonso was found out on these pages for making up an issue on the radio at least once. Where is the probing journalism in this case? Let’s have justice for George, too!
David BR (@david-br)
13th June 2025, 18:14
But maybe he thought he had damage?! I don’t think it’s a major transgression really to complain you’ve damage when it’s only a suspicion or entirely made up, if only because the stewards aren’t supposed to take into account the effects of a collision in their assessment of an incident (OK so we know that’s half true at best). And really in the case in point, Verstappen should have been more severely penalized (disqualified, I think) irrespective of what happened to GR’s car. So it was kind of irrelevant what Russell said on the radio.
SteveP
13th June 2025, 18:55
Or, George is the classroom sneak, constantly pointing the finger to get someone/anyone else into trouble.
Not that someone telling tales and exaggerating the results of an extreme misdemeanour is any defence of that action
An Sionnach
14th June 2025, 0:12
He didn’t think he had damage. The Mercedes explanation of the “damage” afterwards was embarrassing.
Even so, I still think Max should apologise to George as he can only account for his own behaviour.
Palindnilap (@palindnilap)
13th June 2025, 17:50
It would make perfect sense for him to adapt his driving a little, but no sense at all broadcasting that he will do it. A reputation of being ruthless has worked wonders for many drivers before him.
Win7Golf (@win7golf)
13th June 2025, 18:13
He should have been given the 4 point penalty e had a race ban in Canada.
Again, everybody seems to be afraid of him… or of his father…
Octavia
13th June 2025, 22:14
If Verstappen ever decides to leave F1, I’d like him to try out NASCAR, just to see how long he can go before another driver punches him in the face.