Max Verstappen and FIVE others receive stewards verdict

02/05/2025 19:22

The six drivers, including, Max Verstappen, have all discovered their fate after being placed under investigation during the Miami sprint shootout.  Verstappen, George Russell, Liam Lawson, Alex Albon, Carlos Sainz and Gabriel Bortoleto were all investigated for ignoring the race director's instructions, in relation to exceeding the maximum delta time.  Of the six drivers, only Verstappen was not placed under investigation in the first part of the sprint shootout, with the Dutchman having been put under investigation in the second section. Interestingly, only the four-time world champion was summoned to the stewards after no further action was taken against the other five drivers. The F1 stewards opted to reprimand the Red Bull team after Verstappen exceeded the time limit between the safety car lines. Explaining their reasoning, the F1 stewards outlined a programming issue within the Red Bull system resulted in an incorrect delta time. "Car 1 was around 6 seconds above the required minimum time between Safety Car Lines 1 and 2 for one lap in SQ2, but complied with the requirement in all other laps.  "Telemetry showed that the driver was driving with a constant speed throughout the lap without any other cars around as if he was managing the delta at approx. 6 seconds off the relevant number.  "During the hearing the team stated that due to a false programming in the car the delta time displayed in the car had an offset of 6 seconds and whilst the driver was managing the delta displayed he was constantly approx. 6 seconds above the minimum time.  "The team identified the problem by the end of the first cool-down lap and immediately instructed the driver to manage his speed in a way that he would be min. 6 seconds below the delta time displayed in the car, which he did in all following laps.  "This was confirmed by the telemetry. The Stewards acknowledge that, whilst there has been a breach of the regulations, VER did not drive "unnecessarily slowly" based on the information he had in the car and did not impede any other cars or create any dangerous situation and therefore determine that a penalty for the driver is not warranted.  "However, a Reprimand to the team is issued as they are responsible for ensuring that correct timing information is displayed in the car. It is worth noting that in different circumstances a more severe penalty might be applied for a similar infringement.