After setting the fastest time early in practice, things went very wrong for Denny Hamlin. The car fired off into Turn 3 as a high rate of speed, spinning sideways and backing into the outside wall.

“Stuck throttle! F****** stuck throttle!” exclaimed Hamlin the radio. There was significant damage to the rear clip of the car. Hamlin drove the wounded No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota back to the garage. As he climbed from the car, he slammed his helmet down on the roof in frustration.

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry

Photo by: Bozi Tatarevic

After narrowly missing out on the win at Homestead, Hamlin enters Martinsville 18 points below the cut-line. It would have been difficult, but he could have pointed his way in with the benefit of stages, but that path is likely gone now. Unless something surprising happens to the Hendrick Motorsports drivers in front of him, a win may be necessary on Sunday.

He will not take part in qualifying and will start from the rear of the field. And Martinsville is a track where passing is difficult and those in the back are lapped rather quickly, so this really puts him behind for Sunday. The team has the choice to either make repairs to the primary or go to a backup for the race. At the moment, they are trying to fix the primary and will run it through inspection to check the measurements.

Hamlin was the first driver to miss out on the final four in both 2022 and 2023. He is the winningest driver in NASCAR Cup Series history without a championship as well. It’s a glass ceiling he simply cannot seem to brea and a myriad of issues have plagued him throughout the playoffs this year.

Joey Logano  and Tyler Reddick are the two drivers locked into the title-decider at Phoenix with Christopher Bell +29 points and William Byron +7 points on the cut-line.

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Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has been demoted to fourth in Formula 1’s Brazilian sprint race due to a five-second penalty for a virtual safety car infringement.

Verstappen climbed from fourth to third in the 24-lap sprint on Saturday after passing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, whom the Dutchman had been stuck behind for the majority of the sprint race.

But immediately afterwards Verstappen was flagged by race control to the stewards for a potential infringement under the late virtual safety car, which was called for Nico Hulkenberg’s stricken Haas.

Verstappen was deemed to have been below the mandated delta time having drawn alongside the second-placed McLaren of Oscar Piastri on the entry into Turn 4.

A hearing between Red Bull and the FIA stewards confirmed that, and Verstappen was handed a five-second penalty which drops him back to fourth, behind Leclerc, in the updated classification.

Verstappen has also received a penalty point on his licence, bringing him up to seven points over a 12-month period, with 12 points leading to a race ban.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

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“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 1 (Max Verstappen), team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, timing, telemetry evidence,” the FIA verdict read.

“Article 56.5 states in part ‘All cars must also be above this minimum time when the FIA light panels change to green.’

“The driver was 0.63 seconds below the minimum time at VSC end when the FIA light panels changed to green. This indicates a sporting advantage gained under VSC.”

Verstappen, who was joined by Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley in the hearing, reportedly explained that he was aware he was under the delta time, but was too late to correct it by the time the track went green again.

“The driver explained that as he was awaiting VSC to end and he got the notification that he was below the minimum time, he attempted to correct the error but failed to do so by the point that the panels turned green,” the statement continued.

“This is a breach and the standard penalty is applied for the advantage gained at that time. The net effect of this put the driver ahead of where he was at the start of the VSC and not as a result of the car in front falling back.”

McLaren took a one-two win in the race, with polesitter Piastri giving way to team-mate Lando Norris late on as the latter fights Verstappen for the drivers’ championship.

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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.

It is unclear at present which regulation Verstappen may have fallen foul of but the rules regarding virtual safety cars stipulate:

“56.3 – No car may be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person at any time whilst the VSC procedure is in use. This will apply whether any such car is being driven on the track, the pit entry road, or the pitlane.

“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).”

Lando Norris was waved through by team-mate Oscar Piastri to win Formula 1’s 2024 Brazil sprint race, with the second McLaren saved from a Max Verstappen attack by a late virtual safety car.

However, the Red Bull driver faces a post-race investigation for his actions as the VSC was ending on the final lap.

At the start, polesitter Piastri moved across to cut off Norris’s run to the inside at Turn 1, where the McLarens held their positions and Verstappen locked up unsuccessfully attacking Charles Leclerc’s third place.

The McLaren pair moved slightly clear in the early laps, before Leclerc – who was unmoved by an early look from Verstappen into Turn 4 at the end of the track’s second straight – and the world champion closed back up.

Norris suggested he thought Piastri should have let him by in the opening quarter of the 24-lap contest, but the only order in the first half was for the leader to give his team-mate DRS after the second McLaren had fallen slightly away as the first 10 laps ended.

Leclerc perused the McLarens closely through the next phase before a moment at the Senna S on lap 13 meant he had to defend against Verstappen to Turn 4 and the McLarens finally snapped the DRS threat from behind.

But, just as McLaren was telling Norris it expected to swap positions late in the race, Leclerc’s pace dipping meant Verstappen was finally able to fight by at Turn 4 with DRS on the outside line on lap 18.

Verstappen quickly tore a chunk from Norris’s lead ahead, as he continued to lap regularly within a second of his team-mate.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

The McLaren pair in the pulled a two-second gap to Verstappen as lap 20 kicked off, before the Red Bull then closed in by a few tenths.

Then when Nico Hulkenberg pulled off at Turn 8 in his Haas, McLaren suddenly had to urgently swap the lead in fear of the VSC that eventually came.

On lap 22, Piastri obeyed the instruction to let Norris by, with Verstappen suddenly all over the now second McLaren and threatening massively in third.

But just before the penultimate lap kicked off, the VSC was activated and the race neutralised.

There was to be one last moment of action when the VSC ended as Norris made it to Turn 4 on the final lap, with Verstappen pulling out from behind Piastri’s slipstream as if to attack with the neutralisation still active.

When it went green, Norris powered clear easily to win by 0.5s, while Verstappen did not get to make his move as by this stage he and Piastri and reached Turn 4.

Soon after the race ended, it was announced that Verstappen’s actions are being investigated for a possible infringement.

Ferrari’s expected race pace advantage never materialised, as Leclerc dropped back towards team-mate Carlos Sainz by the end – the Spaniard having been dropped quickly in the early laps.

George Russell was the lead Mercedes in sixth, with Pierre Gasly an impressive seventh for Alpine, while Sergio Perez fought his way up from SQ2 exit to finish eighth and claim the final point.

Lewis Hamilton recovered a few spots from losing badly at the start, while in the other Haas Oliver Bearman also dropped back from running at the end of the top 10 early on.

Photos from Brazilian GP Sprint