Max Verstappen will race his rivals no differently in the upcoming races despite the looming threat of a ban following his collision with George Russell in the Spanish Grand Prix.
The stewards added three penalty points to Verstappen’s licence after he provoked a collision with the Mercedes after slowing to allow Russell to catch him. Now on a total of 11 penalty points, he will incur an automatic ban if he collects one more over the next two rounds.
Two of his penalty points will expire at the end of this month. However beyond that he will remain three points away from a ban for another eight rounds.
Verstappen said the prospect of having to miss a race doesn’t concern him too much. “If you look at it in general, I mean missing a race is not ideal but it’s not the end of the world,” he told the official F1 channel.
He received nine of his points for incidents involving other drivers. The other two came for a Virtual Safety Car infringement and an incident in qualifying at Losail last year.
He said he doesn’t plan on adjusting his approach to avoid collecting further penalty points. “It’s there, right? I mean there’s nothing that you can do about it,” he said.
“So we’ll just focus ahead, try to do the best we can every single time. It’s not changing my approach and I cannot speak for others.”
Although Verstappen refused to explain the collision immediately after the race, on the day after he issued a statement on social media blaming “frustration” for the incident. “I explained immediately on the Monday my views so [I’ll] just move on and try to have a good weekend here,” he added.
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2025 Spanish Grand Prix
- Verstappen says he won’t make any changes to his driving to avoid a ban
- ‘No issues’ with Verstappen but ‘it’d be different if he’d taken me out’ – Russell
- Ferrari “don’t want us to talk much” about “massive” Spanish GP problems – Hamilton
- Verstappen versus Russell is Formula 1’s best grudge match for years
- “I tried to push him in the marbles”: Leclerc’s radio sheds light on Verstappen clash
