Your Verdicts On The Five Most Controversial F1 Penalty Calls Of 2025

Max Verstappen’s 10-second time penalty for colliding with George Russell was the most controversial penalty call of 2025 in the eyes of RaceFans readers.

More than 80% of our readers felt the stewards did not punish the Red Bull driver seriously enough for the incident during the Spanish Grand Prix. It dropped Verstappen five places in the results, leaving him 10th in the final classification and costing him nine championship points.

RaceFans readers were invited to give their verdict on how the stewards handled every major incident during the 2025 F1 season. Here are the five calls they disagreed with most strongly.

Most controversial F1 penalty calls of 2025

Verstappen, Spanish Grand Prix

83% said his penalty was too lenient

The lap 64 collision between Verstappen and Russell occured in unusual circumstances. Verstappen had lost a position to Charles Leclerc at a Safety Car restart three laps earlier, then cut turn two after he came under attack by Russell.

Verstappen asked for fresh rubber but was surprised to get a set of hard tyres — **Transcript: “It’s a shame, but that’s the rules”: Full radio from Verstappen’s acrimonious Spanish GP**

Red Bull, influenced by Russell’s radio messages, made the incorrect judgement that Verstappen should give the position back. He slowed down approaching turn five, seemingly to allow the Mercedes past, then ran wide in the corner, causing contact. He stayed ahead of the Mercedes until turn 12, then let him past again.

The stewards ruled Verstappen was entirely to blame for the contact. Besides his time penalty they also gave him three penalty points on his licence. This was more than the usual two for such a collision, but had they given him any more he would reached a total of 12, triggering an automatic ban.

The 10-second time penalty cost him nine points, the full impact of which became clear six months later, when he lost the world championship by just two. But at the time many felt the stewards had been too soft. Significantly, they did not summon him to explain his unusual driving in turn five.

Only one decision during 2025 provoked more disagreement: 84% of readers felt Carlos Sainz Jnr’s penalty for colliding with Liam Lawson in the Dutch Grand Prix was too harsh. However that call was reversed after Williams requested a review.

Reader’s view

2021 Monza, gets angry due to a slow pit-stop that allows Hamilton to get in front of him, crashes into Hamilton at the first opportunity.
2021 Jeddah, gets angry as he has to let Hamilton overtake him after passing off the track, then brake tests Hamilton.
Fast forward to Spain, gets angry after Leclerc and then Russell overtake him, crashes into Russell shortly after.
Needs a more severe penalty as his anger issues are a recurring problem, there are other examples.
David West

Piastri, Brazilian Grand Prix

79% said his penalty was too harsh

Oscar Piastri looked poised to regain vital ground in the Brazilian Grand Prix when he pounced on Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s sluggish Mercedes at a rolling restart. The McLaren driver made it to the apex of turn one, but so did the Mercedes, and the pair made contact. Neither sustained damage, but Antonelli understeered wide into Leclerc’s Ferrari, putting him out of the race.

The stewards ruled Piastri was to blame for the contact and issued a 10-second time penalty. That turned a potential second-place finish into fifth, costing him eight points. It was a tough call for Piastri, whom many felt was also hard done by earlier in the year when he was penalised for slowing excessively during a Safety Car restart at Silverstone: 66% called that decision too harsh.

Reader’s view

The perfect example of a penalty being issued solely because someone had to retire.
10 seconds for that? Do they want drivers to race or just follow each other home?
Edvaldo

Verstappen and Leclerc, Mexican Grand Prix

71% and 70% said they should have been penalised for corner-cutting

Several drivers cut across turn two at the start of the Mexican Grand Prix, though some did so more egregiously than others. Leclerc and Verstappen both relinquished places after rejoining the track, though most of our readers felt they didn’t do enough to deserve a penalty, and were sceptical about whether they even intended to get around the corner as they approached it, and hoped to exploit the weak enforcement of track limits by the stewards.

While 70% felt Leclerc deserved a penalty, 71% decided Verstappen did (he was so far off the track his car can’t be seen in the picture above).

Reader’s view

I was a bit bemused that Verstappen and Leclerc did not receive any penalties (I did not really notice the drivers further behind). For Verstappen, there is no way a driver of his calibre would be so out of control at the first corner unless he knew he could get away with it by cutting the corner (of course with a perfunctory “they pushed me off” over the radio).
If his outside late-braking move had worked, it would have been brilliant and he could have been challenging for second, as it was he could pick where he would slot back in – it was even unclear to me whether he let Hamilton by, or whether he just chose not to fight him too hard in the circumstances. In any case, making that gamble is leaving the track and gaining an advantage, in my opinion. Without the run-off option, he should just have slotted in behind the leading pack.
As for Leclerc, that was even more blatant in my opinion. Hamilton was cleanly past him, and then he just chose to ignore turn two, even though he could have easily kept it on the road by sacrificing some momentum. Perhaps the stewards felt the Ferrari pit wall should handle any intra-team stuff, but I disagree.
@AdrianMorse

Bearman, Italian Grand Prix

69% said his penalty was too harsh

Oliver Bearman was already close to a ban when he tagged Sainz as the Williams driver overtook him on the outside heading into the Variante della Roggia at Monza. Among those who disputed the decision to penalise him was Williams team principal James Vowles.

Reader’s view

The stewards’ decision on Bearman is insane from a group of people who are meant to understand and enforce a set of rules. The guidelines literally say if overtaking on the outside and have your [front] axle ahead you are “entitled to be given room” i.e. not run off the track by the guy on the inside. How they turn that into a “right to the racing line” I have no idea. So now whoever’s axle is slightly behind even if they’re almost fully alongside is obliged to just back out and cede the position. It’s effectively a ban on side by side racing in a corner.
The whole ‘let them race’ thing didn’t work in the end because people knew they could run another driver off and nothing would happen, but now they’ve swung the pendulum so far the other way it’s comical.
@Blupid

Hamilton, Mexican Grand Prix

68% said his penalty was too harsh

The excessively generous run-off areas at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez caused plenty of acrimony once again in 2025.

Hamilton cut across turn four to ensure Verstappen did not stay ahead of him at the end of an exchange between the two drivers through several corners. Verstappen originally attacked the Mercedes driver at turn one from a long way back, the pair making contact, then the Red Bull driver went off at turn two as he tried to stay ahead. Many readers disagreed with the stewards’ view Hamilton was the only driver at fault in the exchange.

Reader’s view

Verstappen lost control into turn one, forcing another driver (Hamilton) off the track. That’s a penalty for Verstappen.
Hamilton gained a lasting advantage by rejoining two seconds ahead of Verstappen and Bearman. He didn’t overtake Verstappen, but he gained a gap. That’s a penalty for Hamilton.
I was fully expecting them to get five seconds each.
Christopher Rehn (@ChrisChrill)

Your verdict on every stewards’ call this year

While these five calls stood out as particularly contentious, our readers did approve of many other calls made by the stewards this year. Find all the results below:

Formula 1

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