The Spanish Grand Prix FIA stewards have explained why Max Verstappen received not only a 10-second time penalty, but also three penalty points.
Verstappen made contact with George Russell on lap 64, following an earlier collision on lap 61 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
After a safety car restart at the beginning of lap 61, Verstappen was overtaken by Charles Leclerc on the run into the first corner, with Russell having attempted to follow him through.
Contact was made as a result, triggering the Red Bull driver to take to the inner escape road. Crucially, he rejoined the circuit in fourth and ahead of Russell, much to the team's concern.
At the start of lap 64, Red Bull informed a furious Verstappen to return the position to Russell. The Dutchman did not understand why, but initially appeared to try and do so on the approach to Turn 5.
Russell was alongside Verstappen on the outside as they entered the corner, before the reigning world champion suddenly accelerated and went into the Briton. A 10-second time penalty was handed to Verstappen, demoting him to 10th after crossing the line in fifth.
Three penalty points were also added to his super licence, moving him to just one away from a race ban. Concerningly, Verstappen will not lose any penalty points until the Austrian Grand Prix.
In its report, the FIA explained that the 27-year-old clearly caused a collision with Russell, but that he actually did not need to return the position following the lap 61 incident, pinning some blame on Red Bull.
The full explanation from the stewards, as outlined in the official FIA decision document, is below.
FIA explanation for the severity of Max Verstappen's penalty
"The Stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, and in-car video evidence.
"From the radio communications, it was clear that the driver of Car 1 was asked by his team to ‘give the position back’ to Car 63 for what they perceived to be an earlier breach by Car 1 for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage (in fact, we had later determined that we would take no further action in relation to that incident).
"The driver of Car 1 was clearly unhappy with his team’s request to give the position back. At the approach to Turn 5, Car 1 significantly reduced its speed thereby appearing to allow Car 63 to overtake.
"However, after Car 63 got ahead of Car 1 at the entry of Turn 5, Car 1 suddenly accelerated and collided with Car 63. The collision was undoubtedly caused by the actions of Car 1. We therefore imposed a 10 second time penalty on Car 1."
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