This is why Max Verstappen did not get handed a race ban for the Canadian Grand Prix

For the incident with George Russell at turn 5, Verstappen received a ten-second penalty, along with three penalty points on his license after swerving into the Mercedes driver, meaning the Dutchman is only one penalty point away from a suspension in Formula 1.

However, it could have turned out much worse. After the race, Verstappen had to report to the stewards for another incident, having to explain an incident with Charles Leclerc after the safety car restart saw them touch going down the start/finish straight.

Ultimately, neither Leclerc nor Verstappen received a penalty for the incident, with both drivers agreeing that the collision was avoidable and that it could have resulted in a severe crash. They also both found that there was no one to fully blame for the collision, so, given those circumstances, the stewards decided that it was not necessary to take further action.

Along with that incident, at the same restart, Verstappen swerved to avoid Russell, who attempted to overtake down at turn 1, meaning the Red Bull driver went onto the escape road and rejoined ahead of the Mercedes driver.

For this, Verstappen was instructed by his team to give back the position, which then led to the collision between the two of them, with the 27-year-old receiving a ten-second penalty and three penalty points.

Ultimately, Verstappen did not have to give back the position, as judged by the stewards, saying that it was not necessary to take action. For this reason, Verstappen did not receive any additional penalty points and is not suspended for the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix.

For the next two Grand Prix, Verstappen must be careful, with just one more penalty point meaning he will have to sit out a race weekend with a ban, which happened to Kevin Magnussen at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

If the Dutchman does not receive any penalty points in those two races, some of the penalty points on his license will have reached their year-long limit, meaning they will be taken off, giving Verstappen a little bit more leeway.