Red Bull driver Max Verstappen may not have enjoyed his time at the Mexican Grand Prix, and he has been punished further for his antics on Sunday evening.
Verstappen, 27, finished in a disappointing sixth position in Mexico City and was branded “dangerous” by McLaren driver Lando Norris.
Exactly a week after Norris himself was penalised in Austin, Verstappen was handed two ten-second penalties for a wheel-to-wheel battle with the British driver.
Both incidents happened on the tenth lap, as the Red Bull man forced his opponent off the track at turn four.
Then, on turn eight, Verstappen dived up at high speed to regain second place. However, this saw both cars off the track, and the pair nearly collided once more.
“I just had to avoid a crash, the same as last time. I’ll be in the wall in a minute.”
The race stewards decided Verstappen was in the wrong on both occasions, which resulted in two ten-second penalties – instead of the usual five seconds.
After the race, he was handed a further punishment in the form of two penalty points on his super licence for the incident on turn four.
This puts him onto six points over the last 12 months. If a driver reaches 12 points, they will be banned from a race.
The stewards’ letter to the Red Bull team manager read: “[Lando] Norris was attempting to overtake on the outside of [Max] Verstappen at Turn 4. Norris was ahead of Verstappen at the entry, apex and towards the exit of the turn when he started being forced off the track.
“The Stewards believe that the manoeuvre was done in a safe and controlled manner and that Norris would have been able to make the manoeuvre on the track had he not been forced off the track by Verstappen. Norris cut the corner but immediately gave the position he gained as a result back to Sainz.”
After the race, McLaren CEO Zak Brown insisted, “enough is enough”.
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