FIA issue Max Verstappen penalty verdict at Dutch GP

The FIA have announced their penalty verdict for Max Verstappen after the four-time F1 champion was summoned to the stewards at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Following Saturday's qualifying where Verstappen finished P3 behind both McLarens, the Dutchman was called to see the stewards over an alleged breach of Article 33.4 of the FIA F1 sporting regulations.

The Red Bull star was accused of driving unnecessarily slowly during Saturday's competitive session after F1's governing body confirmed the implementation of a minimum speed limit of 1:26.0 for qualifying.

The Dutchman's F1 rivals Oscar Piastri, Yuki Tsunoda, Kimi Antonelli and Pierre Gasly were all also found to have breached the mandatory rule, but no further action was taken in any of those four cases.

After a trip to the stewards for Verstappen and his team representative, the FIA have now announced their verdict for the reigning champion's case, with the stewards also deciding no punishment was needed.

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After hearing from the 27-year-old and his team representative, the stewards determined that Verstappen had exceeded the maximum time from the second safety car line to the first safety car line during qualifying, but no further action was necessary.

An official verdict from the FIA read: "The stewards heard from the driver of Car 1 (Max Verstappen), team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry and in-car video evidence.

"Car 1 exceeded the maximum time specified in the Race Director’s Notes by 3.8 seconds, without slowing down to let any cars pass. This time was exceeded in the inlap after Car 1 took the chequered flag.

"The driver of Car 1 showed us telemetry that proved that he would have been within the delta time but for the yellow flag being shown towards the end of the lap – he had to slow significantly to comply with the yellow flag rules. This is what led to his delta time reflecting an infringement in the system.

"We accepted his rationale for slowing down and accordingly took no further action."

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