Verstappen on brink of F1 race ban after Russell clash punishment

Max Verstappen is on the brink of a Formula 1 race ban after his collision with George Russell in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen picked up a 10-second time penalty and a heavy sanction of three licence penalty points for hitting Russell late in the Barcelona race.

The Red Bull driver had stayed ahead of Russell at the first corner after a safety car restart by taking to the run-off, and was told by Red Bull to give the place back, which Verstappen did into Turn 5 so he could re-pass Russell immediately.

The stewards summarised Verstappen as “suddenly” accelerating and then “undoubtedly” causing the collision, slamming into the side of the Mercedes because of a delayed turn-in.

How many penalty points does each driver have?

Read more

They imposed a 10-second time penalty, and three penalty points - giving Verstappen a total of 11 for the current 12-month period.

That leaves him just one penalty point away from a race ban until two points expired on June 30. But even when that happens, Verstappen will be one major incident away from a suspension until the end of October.

Ironically, the stewards would later decide to take no further action on the Turn 1 incident anyway, so Red Bull actually got Verstappen’s perceived earlier breach wrong and it would have been avoided if Verstappen had not tried to let Russell through at all.

Verstappen's licence penalty points

Austrian GP 2024: 2 points

Reason: Collision with Lando Norris
Expiry: June 30, 2025

Mexican GP 2024: 2 points

Reason: Forcing Norris off track
Expiry: October 27, 2025

Brazilian GP 2024: 1 point

Reason: VSC infringement
Expiry: November 2, 2025

Qatar GP 2024: 1 point

Reason: Driving unnecessarily slowly in qualifying, impeded George Russell
Expiry: November 30, 2025

Abu Dhabi GP 2024: 2 points

Reason: Collision with Oscar Piastri
Expiry: December 8, 2025

Spanish GP 2025: 3 points

Reason: Collision with George Russell
Expiry: June 1, 2026