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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McLaren has admitted its approach to team orders is making life difficult for itself, but says there is no “easy solution” that does not risk upsetting one of its drivers.

The Woking-based squad successfully came through the Brazil sprint race with a 1-2 finish, having swapped it cars around to help Lando Norris’s quest to win the world championship.

But the situation was far from straightforward as, with Norris stacked up behind Oscar Piastri earlier in the race, the team risked the Briton being exposed to attack from Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen right behind him.

While the occasional window appeared to open up in the early stages of the 24-lap sprint to get Piastri to let Norris through, the team kept them racing until two laps from home – when the risk of a Virtual Safety Car for Nico Hulkenberg’s stranded Haas forced its hand in getting the swap done.

McLaren was fortunate that neither Leclerc nor Verstappen were able to stay right with Norris though, because having not switched its cars earlier there was a danger of it never having an opportunity to do so before the chequered flag.

Team principal Andrea Stella has admitted that the team orders situation is a difficult one to manage – but points out that there is no solution that will keep the team and both drivers perfectly happy.

“Making life difficult for ourselves is natural, because when you have two drivers that can win races and a car that can win races, this first thing you have to accept is there’s not an easy solution,” he told Motorsport.com.

“That already sets you in a good mindset to deal with the potential difficulties.

“But, like I have said already in the past, we have worked very hard to put ourselves in this difficult situation – and we are all on the same page: team and drivers.

“I always discuss with the drivers, and say that this is the most difficult thing we are going to face in our career, because this is the only thing that we cannot face by having our interests exactly matching.”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team, 2nd position, Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, 1st position, congratulate each other

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Why McLaren delayed the switch

McLaren went into the Brazil sprint crystal clear that the ultimate intention was to have Norris finish ahead of Piastri.

However, what was not settled was how that would be executed in the race, especially because the team could not be certain about how its rivals would get involved.

Explaining how its calls played out, Stella said that the team had agreed with both drivers that they race away as normal – with the priority being that they do not allow any other cars to get between them.

The idea then was to swap the cars once the pair had got to the point where there was a big enough gap behind Norris, so that race-leader Piastri would not be at risk of being overtaken by anyone else.

Stella added: “We knew that we wanted to swap. But we were waiting for the right gap behind Lando, because if you swap and the other car gets in the DRS, we may compromise one of the principles, which is maximum result for the team.

“So, we were observing, and we were ideally waiting for a couple of seconds [gap], but repeated for a couple of laps.”

Stella said that without the gap behind Norris staying large enough for several laps, it felt the risk was too much to force a change too soon.

“The gaps in the sectors were moving around a bit, and I wasn’t completely comfortable to expose Oscar to Leclerc, because, at some stage, Leclerc didn’t seem slow at all at the start of the race.

“Even the time the two seconds appeared, the next lap, it was 1.2 seconds. We were waiting for the right opportunity.

“We didn’t want to get excited and then create a situation that doesn’t maximise the result for the team. We knew that we had time to do that, unless there was a risk of a safety car.

“And as soon as we saw the risk of a safety car towards the end of the race, then we needed to accelerate the process.”

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).”

Jorge Martin says the sprint race at Sepang on Saturday could have had an entirely different outcome had he not toughed it out with polesitter Francesco Bagnaia to take the lead midway through the first corner.

As it happened, factory Ducati rider Bagnaia fell out of second place on the third lap of the race, leaving Martin (Pramac Ducati) to stretch his points advantage from 17 to 29 with a straightforward victory.

The Italian’s fall highlighted the difficulty of trying to follow and overtake another rider in MotoGP – as did Martin after the race.

“If I hadn’t taken first position straight away today, I wouldn’t have won,” said Martin. “I think Pecco would have won and I would have been second. So to start well is really important.

“Nowadays, either you are like Enea [Bastianini] who can come from behind, or it’s impossible to win if you’re not in first position at the beginning.”

Martin also showed some sympathy for Bagnaia having been caught out at the slow, left-hand Turn 9.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“It’s been a really critical corner all weekend,” he added. “You have like three different asphalts on the perfect line. And at one point, there’s no asphalt! So it’s like motocross; super difficult. You need to ride a really precise line at that corner.

“I had a few moments there in my time attack yesterday and also today. And sometimes I had to [back off] there during the race too in order not to crash.”

Martin added that his sprint victory was not as easy as it looked after Bagnaia’s retirement.

“After Pecco’s crash, it was difficult to manage the situation,” said Martin. “But I was able to do it well. 

“You do have to think about the fact that Pecco has crashed. You think ‘be careful, you need to finish’. At one point I even thought I might have to [let Marc past] and finish second. 

“But I had a lead of eight-tenths, so it made no sense to wait for him. So I said ‘okay, let’s keep doing the thing you know how to do’. 

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I was really focused on my braking references, just trying to do everything the same without changing anything.”

Martin’s successful Saturday means he could wrap up his maiden championship in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.

But he does not plan to take a particularly cautious approach or get bogged down in the permutations.

“When I try to relax, I get more nervous and everything gets more difficult,” he said when asked if he felt more breathing space with the extended points advantage.

“Today I was a bit nervous in the morning, so I said to Gino [Borsoi, his team manager], ‘Gino, I will go for it.’ I don’t want to finish second or third, I want to go for it. If Pecco is stronger, he will win. And if he’s not, he won’t’.

“Tomorrow will be a bit more of the same. If Pecco is much stronger, it’s okay. But I will do my best, because it’s the only way I can really be at 100% and focused.”

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

He noted that Bagnaia will be a dangerous competitor on Sunday given he has no choice but to win. 

“It’s a privilege to have this advantage at this point,” said Martin. “But it’s not over until it’s over.

“Tomorrow will be a really long race and Pecco will risk a lot to win. He has nothing to lose now – it’s all or nothing. To beat him under those conditions is really tough.”

However, Martin also echoed Bagnaia’s suspicion that the championship leader is unlikely to finish lower than second – despite his chaser’s hopes that other riders can take points off the Spaniard.

“We are a step in front of the others, so I think in the worst case I will try to finish second,” said Martin.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will start Brazil’s sprint race from the pitlane after making sweeping changes to their Aston Martin F1 cars.

Alonso and Stroll both struggled for speed in Friday’s sprint qualifying, only managing 16th and 19th respectively.

In response to the result and in a desire to further hone in on their car set-up for the remainder of the weekend, both Aston Martins have undergone changes under parme conditions, which means they have to start from the pitlane.

The FIA document specified that both the bodywork specification and the suspension set-up of Alonso’s and Stroll’s cars have been changed overnight.

Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, who qualified last, has also had his suspension set-up changed and will line up behind the two Astons at pit exit.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Speaking after qualifying, Alonso had already suggested that he would treat the 24-lap sprint as a practice session, calling the race “useless” from his lowly grid position.

“The sprint for us really means nothing, as there are only eight cars scoring points,” the two-time world champion said. “And even if you are eighth or seventh, you score one point or two. So just the format doesn’t reward anything to be fast on Friday night and Saturday.

“For us there’s much more focus on Sunday, so that’s the way we treat the sprint weekends. A little bit useless until Saturday afternoon. And it’s the case on this one as well.”

Alonso explained set-up experiments following Friday’s sole practice session had also been one of the reasons why the Aston Martin team’s qualifying session had been so low-key.

“We didn’t have the pace in qualifying,” he said. “We made some changes also after FP1 that we knew were maybe detrimental to the pace of the car. But we had to keep ourselves focused on Sunday more than Saturday, so for us, the sprint is more a free practice.”