Max Verstappen was handed a 10-second time penalty and three penalty points on his FIA super licence after crashing into George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix

Max Verstappen is now just one penalty point away from receiving a race ban (Image: Getty)

Max Verstappen once threatened to walk away from Formula One after being punished by the FIA for swearing. The reigning world champion is now facing a potential one-race ban after he inexplicably crashed into George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix.

In the closing stages of Sunday’s race, Verstappen was battling it out with the Mercedes driver into Turn 1 of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Russell seemed to have gained the upper hand following a safety car restart but a snap of oversteer led him to make contact with Verstappen, who then cut through the run-off area and held onto fourth place.

The Red Bull team instructed Verstappen to let Russell pass after their collision, which was met with a fiery response over the team radio. The reigning world champion appeared to comply momentarily by slowing down into Turn 5, only to accelerate again and hit Russell.

The FIA stewards hit Verstappen with a 10-second time penalty for his part in the shocking incident, causing him to drop from fifth to 10th place in the final standings. Verstappen also had three penalty points added to his license, meaning he’ll need to tread carefully in the next two Grands Prix.

He is just a single penalty point away from an automatic one-race suspension, having accumulated 11 points over the past year. Penalty points remain on a driver’s super licence for 12 months before they expire, meaning his next point won’t come off until the Austrian Grand Prix at the end of June.

A ban is unlikely to improve his relationship with the FIA as he has already expressed his frustration towards the motorsport governing body. His anger was visible last year when he was handed a community service sentence for swearing, a day after FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem had insisted that drivers needed to clean up their language.

After receiving his punishment, which Lewis Hamilton also opposed, Verstappen argued that the FIA was draining the fun from racing. He said: “Everyone is pushing to the limit. Everyone in this battle, even at the back of the grid. But if you have to deal with all these kinds of silly things: for me, that is not a way of continuing in the sport, that’s for sure.”

Verstappen inexplicably drove into George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix(Image: Getty)

He went on to add: “I don’t know how seriously they will take that kind of stuff but for me, at one point, when it’s enough, it’s enough. We’ll see. Everything will go on, I have no doubt. It’s not a problem because Formula One will go on without me, but it’s also not a problem for me. So it’s how it is.”

Just under a year later, Verstappen has once again found himself at the centre of F1 controversy with Sunday’s incident. Russell branded the Dutchman’s manoeuvre as “deliberate” and “totally unnecessary”. Meanwhile, former champion Nico Rosberg weighed in by suggesting that Verstappen deserved a black flag for the on-track incident.

Verstappen remained unfazed and dismissed the criticism by saying: “Yeah, that’s his opinion, everyone can have his opinion.” He was also reluctant initially to answer the media’s questions over the incident, saying: “Does it matter? Yeah, okay, that’s great. I mean, I prefer to speak about the race rather than just one single moment.”

Having been informed that Russell said he was “worried for young kids watching,” Verstappen replied sarcastically: “Well, I’ll bring some tissues next time. He has his view, I have my view. It’s better to just focus on the race which I think was quite okay.”

He has since backtracked somewhat on his post-race comments, taking to Instagram on Monday to write: “Our tyre choice to the end and some moves after the safety car restart fuelled my frustration, leading to a move that was not right and shouldn’t have happened.”