Max Verstappen facing BAN from F1 race as stewards make punishment decision over George Russell Crash

MAX VERSTAPPEN is on the verge of a Formula One race ban after race stewards made a decision over his collision with George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver lost his head at the end of the race following a safety car restart which culminated in him “undoubtedly” crashing into Russell and initially earning a 10-second time penalty.

Max Verstappen was handed a 10-second penalty for “undoubtedly” causing his collision with George Russell

Sky Sports

Verstappen appeared to deliberately drive into the Brit at Turn 5 of the Spanish GP[/caption]

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The FIA later hit the Dutchman with three penalty points, leaving him one off of a race ban[/caption]

That punishment dropped him from P5 when he crossed the line to P10, which opened a massive 49-point gap between himself and championship leader Oscar Piastri.

A further investigation from the FIA after the race saw the 27-year-old avoid disqualification, despite calls from Nico Rosberg on Sky Sports commentary.

However, F1‘s governing body decided that Verstappen‘s actions also warranted three points on his Super Licence, declaring the collision was “undoubtedly caused” by him.

And this has placed him on the verge of a ban for an F1 race later this season.

With the three points added from his exploits in Barcelona, Verstappen is now just one penalty point away from a race ban.

F1’s penalty points system works on a 12-month rolling basis, and Verstappen currently sits on 11 penalty points out of the maximum of 12 before a ban.

But the next time the four-time world champion will see any of his penalty points expire will be on June 30.

That means Verstappen will need to be on his best behaviour at both the Canada Grand Prix on June 15 and then Red Bull’s home race at the Austrian Grand Prix on June 29.

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Picking up another penalty point in Montreal would mean a ban for Verstappen at the Red Bull Ring, while a point in the second race would mean he is banned from the British Grand Prix on July 6.

Verstappen will become the first-ever reigning world champion to be hit by a ban if he picks up another point in either of those races.

However, if he stays clean across the next two race weekends then Verstappen will see two points expire from his licence and move down to nine.

After that he will need to avoid further incident going all the way to October 27th.

The chaos in Spain began after a safety car restart caused by Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli veering into the gravel. 

Verstappen nearly spun and Charles Leclerc overtook him before Russell, 27, nearly went into the back of him, with the Dutchman going off track onto the escape road.

He was then told by his team to give the place back to the Brit, believing he had gained an unfair advantage by leaving the track.

Fuming Verstappen swore down the radio at the decision before slowing up.

The Mercedes man thought he was letting him through at Turn 5 but his rival then appeared to intentionally ram into the side of him, which landed Verstappen in hot water.

Speaking after the race, Russell said: “I’m too close to give my opinion on behalf of the drivers. It’s like in Austin last year, some of the best moves ever then you go to Mexico and he lets himself down a bit.

“You go to Imola with one of the best moves of all-time, then this happens. It cost him and his team a lot of points. Charles and I actually dropped off like a stone on those last two laps.

“He probably could have come back to fight for the podium, so I won’t lose any sleep [over it]. We have our own problems and that’s making our car go faster.”

Verstappen himself said: “I don’t need to say anything about it because it doesn’t matter anyway.

“I had a big moment there in the last corner. Unfortunately the hard tyres had very low grip so that was quite painful. Basically, we just ran out of tyres.

“In hindsight, was it better to stay out? Maybe, I don’t know. It’s always easy to say afterwards. Because of those hard tyres, you get into those situations.

“I think [the strategy] was good, I think it worked for us. It was the best way forward. It was racy and I liked it. Unfortunately we didn’t get the benefits at the end.”