Max Verstappen receives a penalty after the Miami Grand Prix, without however losing his position at the finish.
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The Grand Prix held at the Miami International Autodrome continues to deliver its verdicts after the finish. Max Verstappen was sanctioned by the FIA stewards following their investigation.
The Dutch driver was suspected of having crossed the white line at the pit exit during a stop made under a generalized yellow flag regime. A maneuver generally penalized systematically.
A delayed decision due to lack of evidence
Unusually, the stewards did not make an immediate decision during the race. The lack of usable footage at the time pushed the race direction to postpone the analysis until after the checkered flag.
“At the time of the incident, there was little footage allowing to clearly determine if there was an infraction” explained the stewards.
Thanks to new camera angles, the incident was finally able to be studied in more detail after the race. After analysis, the stewards confirmed that Verstappen had indeed broken the rules.
“The new footage showed that the front left tire crossed the continuous white line at the pit exit” they specify.
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The driver defended himself by explaining that he was rejoining the track under yellow flag, but this was not enough to avoid a penalty.
A penalty without direct impact
Given the nature of the infraction, a five-second penalty was imposed on Verstappen. A classic sanction in this type of situation.
However, this decision has no consequence on the final classification. The Red Bull driver having finished with more than five seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton, he keeps his fifth place.
This penalty concludes a particularly eventful weekend for Verstappen, between on-track incidents, unusual strategy and multiple investigations.
Even without loss of position, this episode once again illustrates the complexity of a Miami Grand Prix marked by many twists and turns, both on and off the track.
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