After their investigation, the stewarding panel handed Verstappen a five-second penalty, meaning he drops to fourth, behind Leclerc, and loses another point to title rival Norris – the Dutchman now leading by 44 points. He was also handed a penalty point on his racing licence, taking him to seven points in the current 12-month period.
In their decision document, the stewards explained: “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.
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“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.”
