Max Verstappen’s frustrations continue to grow as he failed to win a Grand Prix in the last 10 race weekends and now also received a penalty for a second week running. After receiving two 10-second penalties in the United States, the Dutchman received another five-second penalty in Brazil for a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) infringement resulting in him losing P3 to Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen received this penalty after he failed to get his car within the “Delta time“. “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,” read a statement from the stewards.
BREAKING: Max Verstappen receives a five-second time penalty for infringing Virtual Safety Car rules during #F1Sprint
Verstappen, who finished third, drops to fourth place#F1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/sQHUFlmETl
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 2, 2024
But what is delta time? Since the FIA introduced both VSC and the full safety cars for safety reasons, all drivers on the track need to slow down by 60 or 70% from their normal lap time and manage a certain pace known as the delta time.
The time that the drivers need to manage over the course of a lap appears on their steering wheel. No driver is permitted to exceed this time, drive too slowly, or overtake during a VSC or a full safety car period.
Since Verstappen seemed overly keen to get to the back of Oscar Piastri during the sprint race, the stewards gave him a five-second penalty for being 0.63 seconds faster than his minimum delta time. With Verstappen losing a place to Leclerc as a result, this penalty could potentially even end up costing him the title as each point counts at this point in the season.
Norris continues to reduce Verstappen’s lead in the championship
Considering the difference in the pace of the MCL38 and the RB20 at this point of the season, it seems inevitable for Norris to reduce Verstappen’s lead in the standings. Hence, the question is how fast can he reduce it rather than will he reduce it.
With Verstappen still leading Norris by 44 points after the Sao Paulo GP sprint race, the time seems to be running out for the Briton. Therefore, Norris needs to make sure that he makes the most of this weekend by reducing Verstappen’s lead as much as possible since the Dutchman also has a five-place grid penalty for the main race.
Verstappen received this penalty after he exceeded the number of engines he can use in a season. This penalty means that he will start five places lower on the grid than wherever he qualifies during Saturday’s qualifying session.
