Max Verstappen wouldn’t even get penalty points for his worst F1 move under new steward guidelines

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Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has made some extremely controversial on-track manoeuvres during his time in Formula 1.

But perhaps the worst of all was his collision with George Russell at last year’s Spanish Grand Prix. Verstappen was accused by some observers of deliberately driving into the Mercedes out of frustration at the end of the race.

Indeed, Nico Rosberg called for Verstappen to be disqualified at the time because he had hit Russell ‘on purpose’. Verstappen has been hit with some significant time penalties in the past, but talk of a black flag was unprecedented.

F1 stewards are now much more lenient with penalty points

The stewards penalised Verstappen for causing a collision, docking him 10 seconds and adding three penalty points to his superlicence.

According to Motorsport, the stewards did not have enough evidence to deem the incident intentional or irresponsible, hence the relatively tame sanctions.

In the first five rounds of the 2026 season, they haven’t handed out a single penalty point. They had done so five times by this point in 2025, and eight times the year before.

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But after a dialogue with drivers over the winter, the FIA decided to take a more lenient approach. Under the new stewarding guidelines, incidents have to meet the ‘intentional’/’irresponsible’ criteria outlined above for a driver to receive penalty points.

Former Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was banned for a race in 2024, while Verstappen and Oliver Bearman both came close to the suspension threshold (12 points) last year. The feeling was that the bar for such a severe punishment should be higher.

Now, only drivers who repeatedly behave in an unsporting and reckless manner are at risk.

There’s a strong chance that Verstappen would have escaped with just a time penalty – and no points – for his crash with Russell, had these guidelines been introduced earlier.

If a similar incident occurs this year, whether it involves Verstappen or another driver, it is sure to ignite a debate over the new system.