MPH: Verstappen's self-destructive rage has put him on brink of F1 race ban

As you’ve probably heard, Max Verstappen is currently sailing a little close to the wind regarding the penalty points on his F1 licence. His deliberate contact with George Russell in Barcelona last weekend incurred three points, bringing his total to 11. Just one more point in either of the next two races and he will receive a one-race ban.

Points for any incident are valid for 12 months – and the earliest of his current tally dates back to last year’s Austrian Grand Prix and his collision there with Lando Norris. Those two points will be wiped after this year’s race there and, assuming he doesn’t incur any more by then, that will take him back down to nine points. That will still leave him hovering uncomfortably close to the 12-point ban threshold until late October, when the two penalty points he took in Mexico (again for contact with Norris), will expire.

Can he keep a lid on his hair-trigger emotions to stay out of trouble for the next two races and, subsequent to that, can he be clean for a further nine races? That’s far from a given.

Looking at each of the incidents which have earned Verstappen those 11 penalty points over as many months, a pattern emerges.

Austria 2024

Two points for causing a collision. In Norris’s third attempt at taking the lead from Verstappen at Turn 3, he moved for the outside on the corner approach. Verstappen then eased him to the edge of the track until there was no more track left, at which point their bodywork pierced the other’s tyres. With both cars punctured, Russell won the race and Verstappen got the points on his licence.

Verstappen had been in an angry frame of mind as Norris began attacking him in the late stages. Because, as far as he was concerned, Norris was only in a position to attack him because of a 4sec delay at Max’s final pitstop – and because of what he saw as an unnecessarily long middle stint, which degraded his tyres badly and lost him time.

Even his first stint was too long, he complained, in that he suffered delays in traffic. In actual fact, the long stints were to ensure he had plenty of tyre life left for the crucial final stint and to maximise the chances of getting a pitstop under a safety car or VSC. But in the intensity of the cockpit, he didn’t see the big picture. He only saw red. He was already in a belligerent frame of mind as Norris arrived on his tail – because in his mind he’d been dealt an unfair hand by the actions of the team.

Mexico 2024

Two points for forcing another car off track. There’d been some controversy between Verstappen and Norris at the previous race to this, in Austin, and although it was Norris who was penalised on that occasion, Verstappen was incensed when Norris, in trying to pass him around the outside of Turn 4 here, ran off the track, rejoined ahead and didn’t give the place back (Norris feeling, with some justification that he’d already passed but that Verstappen had then forced him off track).

So a few seconds later, Verstappen simply didn’t even attempt to take Turn 7, just ran very fast down the McLaren‘s inside, forcing Norris to also leave the track onto the run-off, so as to avoid a collision. The Turn 7 incident earned Verstappen the two penalty points.

He’d been angered by the Turn 4 incident but also by having lost the lead to Carlos Sainz a lap earlier, the Ferrari driver having spent the previous few laps forcing Verstappen to use up his battery in defending — and then pounced when the Red Bull ran out of deployment part-way down the main straight. “How am I supposed to defend with the battery like this?” Max had radioed angrily.

Sao Paulo sprint 2024

One point, violation of safety car rules. This was just one of those racing misjudgements. As a VSC came to an end, Verstappen, in his eagerness at trying to pass Oscar Piastri, was 0.63sec quicker than the allowed mini sector time.

Qatar 2024

One point, driving unnecessarily slowly (qualifying). On his cool-down lap, Verstappen impeded Russell’s prep lap, forcing him to take to the gravel. Russell played the opportunity to the maximum to get Verstappen a one-place grid penalty, promoting Russell to the front row. But in the process Verstappen was also given another licence point. Russell later claimed that an angry Verstappen told him after the stewards meeting that he would ‘put me into the ****ing wall‘. In the event, he didn’t need to as he was past the Mercedes before the first turn but he made no secret of his disdain and personal dislike of Russell.

Abu Dhabi 2024

Two points. Causing a collision. Seconds into the start of the race, Verstappen dived late for a gap to the inside of Piastri, one which took him on a collision course with the McLaren, resulting in both cars spinning. An untypical misjudgement.