Verstappen investigated for potential VSC rule breach in Brazilian GP sprint

Max Verstappen is under investigation for a potential virtual safety car infringement during the Formula 1 sprint race at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The championship leader had seemingly minimised the damage to nearest challenger Lando Norris, who was waved past by McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to take the win.

However, with Verstappen coming home third, the Red Bull driver had only dropped two points to Norris.

But he now faces scrutiny after the end of the 24-lap sprint race saw a virtual safety car deployed as the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg stopped at the side of the track.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said to Sky Sports F1 afterwards that he “didn’t see anything wrong” with Verstappen’s driving.

The Dutchman already has a five-place grid penalty for Sunday’s Brazilian GP after changing his engine outside of his allocation ahead of the weekend.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Verstappen leads the title fight by 45 points as he looks to defend his championship title despite Red Bull currently being out-performed by both McLaren and Ferrari.

Having qualified fourth for the sprint, Verstappen passed Charles Leclerc to finish behind the two McLarens, who switched places to aid Norris’ title ambitions.

The summons from the FIA stewards stated Verstappen was under investigation for failing to stay above the minimum time required in the VSC:

“56.5 - All competing cars must reduce speed and stay above the minimum time set by the FIA ECU at least once in each marshalling sector and at both the first and second safety car lines (a marshalling sector is defined as the section of track between each of the FIA light panels).”