In the aftermath of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, both Max Verstappen and George Russell found themselves subject to penalty points on their super licenses, accompanied by time penalties that significantly impacted their race outcomes.
Verstappen’s five-second penalty was the result of an incident at the race start where he forced Charles Leclerc off the track while seizing the lead. The Dutch driver subsequently surrendered the lead during his first pit stop to serve the penalty. Meanwhile, Russell received an equivalent penalty for a collision with Verstappen later in the race, leading to a four-place drop for the British driver at the chequered flag.
Importantly, both Verstappen and Russell now carry penalty points on their super licenses for the next year. In Formula 1, drivers are permitted only 11 penalty points on their licenses within a rolling one-year period. Accumulating 12 points triggers an automatic one-race ban.
The specific penalties in Las Vegas added two points each to Verstappen and Russell’s records. Notably, this restored Verstappen’s count from zero, as his license had been cleared after the previous race in Sao Paulo. In contrast, Russell’s penalty points tally rose to four.
Acknowledging the consequences of their actions, Russell accepted responsibility for the collision with the three-time World Champion. Verstappen, after initially expressing sarcasm towards his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase and the FIA, later reflected and admitted that the imposed penalties were likely appropriate.
“I didn’t mean to push Charles off the track, but I couldn’t slow down. I kept sliding on four wheels, wide,” Verstappen said.
“So that’s why we had to go wide.
“At the time, also from adrenaline, I was not happy with the decision.
“But, looking back at it, that was probably the right call. After that, of course, with those five seconds, it was definitely a bit harder to come back to the front.”
Russell, meanwhile, admitted to Sky Sports F1: “The incident with Max was totally my fault. I didn’t see him, he was totally in my blind spot going around Turn 11.
“I wasn’t really expecting the overtake there because we’ve got the big long straight with the DRS afterward.
“We were on course for an easy podium then, it was pretty straightforward. So we recovered to P4.
“But then the five-second penalty knocks us down to P8. Just this season is sort of one thing after another but then, ultimately, the pace wasn’t quite… it was strong, but not as strong as the Red Bull and the Ferraris.”
