Red Bull F1 star Max Verstappen fired behaviour warning

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen fired behaviour warning

Max Verstappen is one penalty point away from an F1 race ban

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Thursday 5 June 2025 22:12

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Max Verstappen has been fired a warning over his conduct ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, following the F1 champion's controversial move on George Russell in Barcelona.

The Red Bull star was hit with a 10-second time penalty for slamming into the Mercedes star, with a further three penalty points added to his super licence and is one point away from a race ban.

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Naturally, Verstappen will have to be on his best behaviour to avoid missing a race, and has received a warning from Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft on his conduct.

“He's got two races now to really behave himself,” Croft said on the F1 Show.

“I think the 10-second penalty was right because it was a chunk of points that got taken away. And that to me is damaging and therefore it is a proper punishment.

“But it's those three penalty points that puts him on 11 now. One more penalty point, he gets a race ban. He's got two races until his next points come off.

“So I think you know the stewards have done a very good job there and we'll ask questions about that. You know, Max, are you going to change your approach now for the next two races? Are you going to try and keep out of trouble? Are you going to try and keep a bit calm?”

Can Verstappen avoid an F1 race ban?

If Verstappen was to receive a ban he would be in good company in the F1 history books, with the likes of Michael Schumacher, Nigel Mansell and Mika Hakkinen all forced to miss a grand prix.

Schumacher was banned from the 1994 Italian and Portuguese Grands Prix after the champion overtook Damon Hill on the formation lap at Silverstone, and did not serve his five-second stop-go penalty.

At the time his Benetton team told him to ignore the penalty as they launched an appeal, but Schumacher was disqualified from the race for ignoring a black flag and handed a two-race ban after the team's appeal was eventually rejected.

Elsewhere in 1994, Hakkinen received a race ban for a last-lap collision with Rubens Barrichello at the British GP, which was suspended for three races but promptly enforced at the next race in Germany when the Finn crashed into David Coulthard.

Finally, the FIA didn’t take too kindly to Mansell ignoring a black flag at the 1989 Portuguese GP, and a later collision into Ayrton Senna resulted in a race ban for the British champion.