Verstappen was penalized for violating the virtual safety car in the F1 sprint in Brazil

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was demoted to fourth place in Formula 1's Brazilian sprint race due to a five-second penalty for a virtual safety car violation.

Verstappen climbed from fourth to third in Saturday's 24-lap sprint after overtaking Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who the Dutchman had trailed for most of the sprint race.

But immediately afterwards, Verstappen was reported to the stewards by the race management for a possible violation as part of the late virtual safety car phase that was called for Nico Hülkenberg's ailing Haas.

Verstappen was deemed to have undercut the prescribed delta time as he was alongside the second-placed McLaren of Oscar Piastri at the start of Turn 4.

A hearing between Red Bull and FIA stewards confirmed this, and Verstappen was handed a five-second penalty, dropping him to fourth behind Leclerc in the updated standings.

Verstappen also received a penalty point on his license, bringing his total to seven points over a 12-month period, with 12 points resulting in a racing ban.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

“The stewards heard from the driver of Car 1 (Max Verstappen), a team representative, and reviewed the positioning/shunting system data, timing and telemetry evidence,” the FIA ​​ruling said.

“Article 56.5 states in part: 'All vehicles must also be above this minimum time when the FIA ​​light panels turn green.'

“At the end of the VSC the driver was 0.63 seconds below the minimum time when the FIA ​​light boards turned green. This suggests a sporting advantage gained through VSC.”

Verstappen, who was accompanied at the hearing by Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, reportedly explained that he was aware that he was under the delta time but that it was too late to correct this as the track returned turned green.

“The driver explained that while waiting for the VSC to end and receiving the notification that he was under the minimum time, he tried to correct the error but was unable to do so when the indicators turned green,” the statement continues.

“This is an infringement and the usual penalty will be imposed for the advantage gained at the time. The net effect of this is to place the driver ahead where they were at the start of the VSC, rather than causing the car in front to fall behind.”

McLaren took a one-two victory in the race, with polesitter Piastri late on giving way to teammate Lando Norris, who was battling with Verstappen for the drivers' championship.