Verstappen issued a five-second penalty for VSC infringement

Having grabbed third place in the Sao Paulo F1 Sprint, reigning champion Max Verstappen has been handed a five-second time penalty which drops him back to fourth in the standings.

Although Max Verstappen managed to salvage a valuable haul of points in the Sao Paulo F1 Sprint, by finishing third behind the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, his result hang in the balance after the race control launched an investigation into a potential sporting infringement.

Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg stopped on track in the closing laps with an engine problem, which forced the race control to deploy the virtual safety car to clear the Haas. Just moments before the VSC was deployed, McLaren had swapped its drivers, which meant that Verstappen found himself behind Oscar Piastri.

The race resumed at the start of the final lap. Verstappen had pulled alongside Piastri on the run to Turn 4 to attempt an overtaking move, but the VSC panels were still showing.

The FIA noted that the incident will be investigated after the sprint, and the stewards have now confirmed that Verstappen was below the minimum time by 0.63 seconds. As a result, the Dutch driver was handed a five-second penalty which drops him fourth behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. In addition, he also received a penalty point on his license.

The full statement read: “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 1 (Max Verstappen), team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, timing, telemetry evidence.

“Article 56.5 states in part “All cars must also be above this minimum time when the FIA light panels change to green.” The driver was 0.63 seconds 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 that 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.”