Max Verstappen is one penalty point away from an F1 race ban after his dramatic collision with George Russell in the closing stages of the Spanish Grand Prix.
Verstappen, who had just lost third place to Charles Leclerc after a safety car restart, was told by his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to give fourth place to arch-rival Russell, after the pair briefly touched at turn 1.
The Red Bull driver initially moved over to allow Russell through before swerving aggressively into the Mercedes car. Verstappen was given a 10-second time penalty by the stewards straight after race, dropping him from fifth to 10th, though Nico Rosberg believes the Dutchman should have been disqualified.
Yet one hour after the race concluded, Verstappen was given a further three penalty points on his FIA superlicence for the collision, bringing his total to 11 points. A race ban is triggered if a driver accrues 12 points over a 12-month period, as seen with Kevin Magnussen last year.
It means Verstappen must avoid a penalty point at the next race in Canada (15 June) in order to avoid a ban for the Austrian Grand Prix (29 June).
On 30 June, two of Verstappen’s penalty points for a collision with Lando Norris last year in Austria will be wiped, bringing his total back down to nine.
Asked about the incident after the race, Verstappen refused to comment.
“Does it matter?” he responded. “Yeah OK, that’s great. I prefer to speak about the race, not just one single moment.”
Asked further if his dangerous manoeuvres damage his reputation, Verstappen replied: “Yeah OK, that’s your opinion. We’ll leave it there.”
Russell, who was involved in a heated war of words with Verstappen at the end of last season, believed that Verstappen’s move “felt deliberate in the moment.”
“I’ve seen those manoeuvres before in simulators and go-karting, not in Formula 1,” he said.
“I’m in P4, he’s P10. I don’t know what’s going through his mind, it felt deliberate in the moment, it felt surprising.
“It’s down to the stewards to decide if it was deliberate or not, Max is such an amazing driver, so many people look up to him, it seems completely unnecessary.
“I’m too close to give my opinion on behalf of the drivers but, in Austin last year, some of the best moves ever [from Max], then Mexico, he let’s himself down a bit. In Imola [last month, one of the best moves, and then this happens.
“It cost him and his team a lot of points.”
Nico Rosberg, the 2016 F1 world champion on commentary duties for Sky Sports F1 in Spain, believes Verstappen should have been black-flagged.
“That is bad, that is seriously bad,” he said. “You need to black flag [disqualify] that, there’s no other way.
“It looked like a retaliation, ramming into the opponent. That’s something that is extremely unacceptable, that’s why I said black flag.”
Verstappen now trails championship leader and Sunday’s race winner in Barcelona, Oscar Piastri, by 49 points after nine rounds.
