Stewards change decision on Verstappen incident and hand him two penalty points · F1 · RaceFans

The FIA stewards revised their decision on one of Max Verstappen’s two penalties in the Mexican Grand Prix in order to issue him penalty points.

Verstappen originally avoided receiving any penalty points for his two incidents with Lando Norris. However the stewards withdrew their first decision, regarding the incident at turn four, and reissued it.

The revised document handed Verstappen two penalty points, putting him on a total of six for the current 12-month period. Any driver who reaches 12 receives an automatic race ban, as happened to Kevin Magnussen earlier this year.

Norris and Verstappen clashed twice on the tenth lap of the race as they fought over second place. The incident began as Norris drew along Verstappen on the outside approaching turn four. Verstappen braked deep into the corner, forcing Norris off.

The McLaren driver rejoined in the lead of the race, having passed Verstappen as well as Carlos Sainz Jnr off-track. He immediately let Sainz past, but not Verstappen.

The Red Bull driver then lunged down the inside of Norris at turn seven. He ran wide, taking Norris with him, and the pair rejoined the track behind Charles Leclerc.

The stewards ruled Verstappen was at fault for both incidents and gave him a 10-second time penalty for each. He therefore had to wait 20 seconds when he made his pit stop before his team could change his tyres.

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Regarding the turn four incident, the stewards cleared Norris of any blame, ruling the McLaren driver made his move “in a safe and controlled manner and that Norris would have been able to make the manoeuvre on the track had he not been forced off the track by Verstappen.

“Norris cut the corner but immediately gave the position he gained as a result back to Sainz. The penalty is the standard penalty in such cases.”

Despite ruling Verstappen “forced another driver off the track” the stewards did not hand him any penalty points to begin with, but later revised their decision and gave him two.

The stewards also deemed him at fault for the later incident, for which he received no penalty points. Significantly, the stewards indicated they did not believe Verstappen intentionally forced Norris off the track, stating it was “incidental”.

“Following the incident in turn four, Verstappen attempted to pass Norris on the inside at turn eight. Verstappen was ahead at the apex of turn eight and would have been entitled to racing room….