Max Verstappen handed penalty for crossing pit exit at F1 Miami GP
TL;DR
Max Verstappen received a five-second penalty for crossing the pit exit line at the F1 Miami Grand Prix but maintained his fifth place due to a larger penalty given to Charles Leclerc.
Key points
- Max Verstappen received a five-second penalty.
- He crossed the pitlane exit line during the race.
- Verstappen maintained fifth place due to Leclerc's larger penalty.
- The safety car was deployed for accidents involving Hadjar and Gasly.
- The incident was reviewed by race stewards after the race.
Motorsport photo
Max Verstappen has been handed a five-second penalty for crossing the pitlane exit line at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix but retains his fifth place due to an even bigger penalty for Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen, who had dropped down the order after spinning at the start, made an early pitstop on lap 6, capitalising on an early safety car that had come out for the separate accidents of Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly.
But in doing so, the four-time world champion crossed the white line on pit exit, which was ultimately investigated after the race so stewards could review secondary video footage.
New camera angles confirmed Verstappen had crossed the line, netting him a five-second penalty.
"When the incident occurred, there was limited video evidence to make a clear decision on whether an infringement had occurred," the stewards explained. "We therefore decided to investigate the incident after the race, to see if we could get better video evidence of the incident in the meantime, perhaps from other angles. We were able to do so. The new angles did show more views of the pit exit line and the incident in question.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
"The driver of Car 3 explained that he was driving out of the pit exit and rejoined the race under full course yellow. The Stewards determined that the outside of the front left-hand tyre did cross the outside of the solid white pit exit line in violation of Appendix L, Chapter IV Article 6 c) of the International Sporting Code. Given the nature of the infraction the Stewards elected to impose a penalty of 5 seconds."
Verstappen only just nicked fifth off Ferrari's Leclerc coming out of the final corner but will retain fifth because Leclerc was handed a bigger, 20-second penalty for cutting several corners on the final lap as he suffered car damage on his Ferrari.
Leclerc was demoted to eighth behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Alpine driver Franco Colapinto.
Read Also:
Charles Leclerc handed huge Miami GP penalty after battle with Max Verstappen and George Russell
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Q&A
What penalty did Max Verstappen receive at the Miami GP?
Max Verstappen was handed a five-second penalty for crossing the pitlane exit line.
Why did Verstappen retain his position despite the penalty?
He retained his fifth place because Charles Leclerc received an even larger penalty.
What incidents led to the safety car deployment during the race?
The safety car was deployed due to separate accidents involving Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly.
