Max Verstappen is on the verge of a Formula 1 race ban after his clash with George Russell in the Spanish Grand Prix saw him handed three penalty points.
The Red Bull driver appeared to turn into Russell late on in the race at Barcelona, after being instructed by his race engineer to give back fourth place to the Brit’s Mercedes.
After a mistake when exiting the final corner upon the Safety Car pulling in, at the start of Lap 64, Verstappen was overtaken by Charles Leclerc and then came under pressure from Russell.
Verstappen and Leclerc touched, and Verstappen was recommended by the team to relinquish the position after potentially gaining an advantage by driving across the track limits.
This now puts the Dutchman on 11 penalty points in total, just one away from a race suspension.
The first of these points came after his late race clash with Lando Norris at last year’s Austrian Grand Prix.
No further action taken on Leclerc incident
Upon the restart, Verstappen was first thwarted by Leclerc, the pair touching as the Monegasque got the move done.
The incident was also noted and investigated by the stewards, which forced Leclerc to leave the post-race press conference early.
However, after the race had ended, it was concluded that no serious offence by either driver had been made, and that no further action would be taken.
The statement from the stewards read:
“Both drivers were of the view that this was an avoidable collision and could potentially have resulted in a major crash but neither driver was wholly of predominantly to blame.
“In the circumstances, we took no further action.”
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