After Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen has also been handed a penalty at the Miami Grand Prix. The four-time F1 Champion was charged with a pit exit breach, as a result of which he has been given the standard five-second penalty.

Verstappen entered the pits on lap 6, when the safety car was triggered following the crashes involving Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson, and Isack Hadjar. When he left the pits to rejoin the track, he accidentally crossed the white line on the pit lane exit.

In their report, the race officials said they lacked enough video evidence to take a call on it during the race. Hence, they reviewed the situation post-race. Here is what the statement read:

"The driver of Car 3 explained that he was driving out of the pit exit and rejoined the race under full course yellow. The stewards determined that the outside of the front left-hand tyre did cross the outside of the solid white pit exit line in violation of Appendix L, Chapter IV Article 6 c) of the International Sporting Code. Given the nature of the infraction, the stewards elected to impose a penalty of five seconds."

Max Verstappen, however, gets to retain his fifth-place finish. Charles Leclerc, who finished behind him in sixth, was handed an even bigger 20-second penalty. He was unable to entirely control his damaged Ferrari towards the end, and was charged with 'leaving the track on several occasions without a justifiable reason'.

How Max Verstappen lost a potential podium in Miami

Max Verstappen started the Miami GP second on the grid. It was his best qualifying of the season, and he looked strong throughout the weekend in an upgraded RB22.

Off the race start, he got into a battle with pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc. At Turn 2, Verstappen spun off the curb and lost multiple positions. After recovering from the spin, he found himself at the edge of the Top 10.

Around the midpoint of the race, the Dutchman briefly became the race leader, but was soon overtaken again by Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli, who were now on fresher tyres. He lost third place to Leclerc with 10 laps to go, and the Ferrari driver was soon in fourth, tailing Oscar Piastri.

It looked like he would chase the McLaren driver and finish on the podium. However, he made a last-minute error and spun on the final lap, allowing George Russell and Max Verstappen to pass him. Thus, the fifth-place finish for the Red Bull driver, who finds himself at seventh in the driver standings with 26 points.

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Written by

Aaradhya Singh

Edited by

Yask Kotak