- Max Verstappen handed a penalty for a virtual safety car violation at Interlagos
- The penalty sees the Dutchman relegated one place to fourth in the sprint race
Max Verstappen was handed yet another penalty by the stewards in Brazil.
The triple world champion has now been hit by three punishments in two weekends – 25 seconds in all. His latest was a five-second reprimand for going early at the end of the virtual safety car phase during the sprint race at Interlagos.
The advantage took the Dutchman close to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri as he fought unsuccessfully for second place behind winner Lando Norris.
The upshot is that Norris’s deficit in the world championship fight is reduced from 47 points at the start of the day to 44, with 132 still on offer.
The penalty relegated Verstappen one place to fourth. Piastri stayed second with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc switching up a place to third.
Max Verstappen was hit with a five-second penalty during the sprint race at the Brazilian Grand Prix
The sanction also sees Verstappen handed a penalty point on his super licence, taking him to seven for the year
The stewards said: ‘The driver was 0.63sec 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 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 was also handed one penalty point on his super licence, taking him to seven in the year. A total of 12 brings a race ban.
Qualifying takes place today at 6pm GMT.