FIA confirm fresh PENALTY after Max Verstappen incident at Belgian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, FIA, 2024, Social, Photoshop — Photo: © IMAGO

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FIA confirm fresh PENALTY after Verstappen incident at Belgian Grand Prix

The FIA have announced a verdict regarding their Belgian GP penalty decision

By Sheona Mountford.

Sunday 28 July 2024 00:00

The FIA have confirmed that a penalty will be awarded after an incident involving Max Verstappen and Zhou Guanyu at Spa.

Verstappen’s Belgian Grand Prix weekend started with the news that he would receive a 10-place grid penalty for the race on Sunday, after exceeding his internal combustion engine (ICE) allowance.

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Despite this setback the Dutchman was on top form in qualifying, setting the fastest time but will start the race in P11 due to the penalty.

Qualifying was also not all smooth sailing for Verstappen, who was involved in an incident during Q1.

FIA announce penalty for Zhou Guanyu

The Dutchman was furious over team radio, with the Sauber driver placed under investigation for impeding in the wet conditions.

“I got told he was in phase with me… but in the end he was on a flying lap, so yeah quite simple,” Zhou said to the media including GPFans after qualifying.

“They said he was in phase but he was on a flying lap.”

Zhou Guanyu has received a three-place grid penalty

The FIA have since confirmed that Zhou will receive a three-place grid penalty for impeding Verstappen, and was found in breach of Article 37.5 of the regulations.

According to the Stewards the team informed Zhou about Verstappen, however their information was ‘not accurate enough’.

Nonetheless they deemed it the Sauber driver’s responsibility to not ‘unnecessarily impede’ others, which they believe Zhou did.

Zhou set the slowest time of the session, but had his position upgraded to 19th thanks to Yuki Tsunoda - who will start last as a result of his 60-place grid penalty.

The Chinese driver's new penalty will see him drop from 19th to...still 19th, because three is a smaller number than 60.

Max Verstappen Mercedes FIA Belgian Grand Prix Zhou Guanyu