Max Verstappen has been punished for breaking virtual safety car rules towards the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint race.
The Dutchman already has a five-place grid penalty for the main Grand Prix on Sunday after he was forced to add another engine to his pool for the season. Another punishment was sent his way after the Sprint.
The stewards looked into how he approached the ending of a Virtual Safety Car period at the climax of the Sprint on Saturday. He was on the back of Oscar Piastri, who had shortly before moved aside to allow team-mate Lando Norris to take the lead.
Desperate to get past at least one of the McLarens if he could, Verstappen brought himself as close as possible to the back of Piastri's machine at the message came through on the final lap that the Virtual Safety Car period was ending.
When yellow flags are waving, though, no overtaking is allowed and it is also not permitted for cars to pull alongside another either until racing resumes.
Drivers must also adhere to a 'delta' lap time during a VSC period and, if they are found to have gone faster than that time, that too is an infringement.
It has now been confirmed that a five-second penalty has been given to Verstappen. He has also had another penalty point added to his license, meaning he now has seven to his name and his more than half-way towards a race ban which is imposed if a driver reaches 12 in as many months.
Explaining that decisions, the stewards wrote: "Article 56.5 states in part 'All cars must also be above this minimum time when the FIA light panels change to green'.
The driver was 0.63 seconds below the minimum time at VSC End when the FIA light panels changed to green. This indicates a sporting advantage gained under VSC.
"The driver explained that as he was awaiting VSC to end and he got the notification that he was below the minimum time, he attempted to correct the error but failed to do so by the point that the panels turned green.
This is a breach and the standard penalty is applied for the advantage gained at that time. The net effect of this put the driver ahead of where he was at the start of the VSC and not as a result of the car in front falling back."
Verstappen has been demoted to fourth in the final classification for the Sprint as a result of the penalty. It means Norris has gained an extra point on his championship rival and is now 44 behind heading into Sunday's Grand Prix at Interlagos.
The Brit said of his gifted victory in the Sprint: "I am not proud about it, but we worked well together as a team to get it so I thank Oscar.
We have done a great job as a team - this was the result we wanted. Oscar deserved [the win], but we did what we had to do."
