FIA's new public guidelines imply Verstappen was this close to a race ban after Spanish GP collision

Max Verstappen has accumulated a total of 11 penalty points before the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend. The Dutchman is just one point away from a race ban and will be looking to keep his nose clean in Austria before two expire on June 30.

This debate follows the FIA's release of two key documents, which reveal the guidelines for the stewards.

The goal of the decision is to make the competition more transparent.

These documents were created to ensure fair and consistent decision-making in the F1. They don't have regulatory value, but rather serve to assist the stewards in doing their jobs.

As mentioned, Red Bull driver Verstappen has tallied up 11 penalty points, but it might be argued that the FIA haven't followed their now public guidelines.

This is how Verstappen ended up on eleven penalty points:

Two points - Causing a collision with Lando Norris at the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix

Two points - Forcing Lando Norris off the track at the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix

One point - Under the minimum VSC delta during 2024 Qatar Grand Prix Sprint

One point - Driving unnecessarily slowly on a cooldown lap during qualifying for 2024 Qatar Grand Prix

Two points - Causing a collision with Oscar Piastri at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Three points - Causing a collision with George Russell at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix

Verstappen's most recent incident with Mercedes driver Russell could doubtlessly be debated, with some arguing that he'd deserve a race ban after reading the guidelines.

Of course, the Dutchman received three points for the incident. According to the guidelines, however, a collision with 'apparent deliberate or reckless intent' would be worthy of four penalty points. If Verstappen received four penalty points instead of three, he would have most likely served a race ban at the Canadian Grand Prix.

In the final few laps at Barcelona, Verstappen was told to let a frustrated Russell through after rejoining the track. While doing that, he steered into the Brit, resulting in a ten-second time penalty and three penalty points being added to his license.

However, there is one clear exception in the guidelines explaining why the Dutchman received three points instead of four. 'Causing a collision without a direct or clear sporting consequence’.

Since Verstappen immediately lost the position to Russell, there was no direct sporting or clear consequence and thus, Verstappen received a time penalty and the three penalty points instead.

The FIA have laid out clear guidelines, which we broke down in this article below. All of these incidents below would warrant three penalty points.

- Driving unnecessary slowly in a dangerous manner

- Driving erratically in the case it is penalised with a grid penalty and not a reprimand

- Driving with or not stopping with significant and obvious damage unless given a reprimand in FP sessions or qualifying

- Impeding another driver with dangerous intent

- More than once change of direction to defend position

- More serious or repeated moving under breaking during the Grand Prix

Therefore, we want to ask you what you're thinking. Was the penalty that Verstappen received fair, or was a further punishment necessary? Vote in our poll below!