Red Bull driver Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen has been hit with a five-second post-race penalty following an FIA investigation at the Miami Grand Prix.

Verstappen received the penalty for crossing the white line at the pit-lane exit, having made an early pit-stop behind the Safety Car. Despite the penalty, Verstappen will retain P5, as Charles Leclerc received a 20-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage multiple times after his last-lap spin.

Max Verstappen receives Miami Grand Prix penalty for pit exit breach

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Incidents involving Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly triggered the sole Safety Car appearance in Miami, as Verstappen dived into the pits on Lap 7 for hard tyres.

The Red Bull driver was soon noted for potentially crossing the white line at the pit exit.

The stewards, however, announced that an investigation would take place after the race, rather than in-race.

A verdict has now been reached, and it means a five-second penalty for Verstappen.

The statement from the stewards reads: “The stewards heard from the driver of Car 3 (Max Verstappen), team representative and reviewed, video and in-car video evidence.

“When the incident occurred there was limited video evidence to make a clear decision on whether an infringement had occurred. 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.

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“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 five seconds.”

With Verstappen’s P5 unimpacted by the penalty, Miami marks his and Red Bull’s best result of the season, on a weekend where Red Bull appeared to take a clear step forward with its upgraded RB22.

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