FIA fines Max for breaching sporting regulations on Friday
Published on 13 November 2021 by Kees-Jan Koster
Max Verstappen is fined €50,000 by the FIA for touching the rear wing of Lewis Hamilton’s car. The Dutchman breached the sporting regulations after qualifying for the sprint race by inspecting the Mercedes of title rival Hamilton and touching the rear wing. The FIA concludes that Verstappen did not cause harm to the rear wing after watching various video footage, so that the Red Bull Racing driver was only fined.
A technical infringement was found on Hamilton’s rear wing. The gap between the rear wing parts of the DRS system when activated was bigger than the 85 millimetre allowed. It was recently announced that the Brit is disqualified from qualifying. Thus the seven time world champion will start the sprint race from last on the grid. For the Grand Prix on Sunday Hamilton is awarded a five place grid penalty for another engine change.
Contest Brazilian GP: win a by Max Verstappen signed orange RBR Driver Cap 2021!
Results sprint qualifying grid Brazil:
| pos | driver | team | time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | VER | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:08.372 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | BOT | Mercedes | 1:08.469 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | PER | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:08.483 |
| 4 | Pierre Gasly | GAS | AlphaTauri Honda | 1:08.777 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | SAI | Ferrari | 1:08.826 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | LEC | Ferrari | 1:08.960 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | NOR | McLaren Mercedes | 1:08.980 |
| 8 | Daniel Ricciardo | RIC | McLaren Mercedes | 1:09.039 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | ALO | Alpine Renault | 1:09.113 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | OCO | Alpine Renault | 1:09.189 |
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel | VET | Aston Martin Mercedes | 1:09.399 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | TSU | AlphaTauri Honda | 1:09.483 |
| 13 | Kimi Räikkönen | RAI | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:09.503 |
| 14 | Antonio Giovinazzi | GIO | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:10.227 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | STR | Aston Martin Mercedes | 1:09.663 |
| 16 | Nicholas Latifi | LAT | Williams Mercedes | 1:09.897 |
| 17 | George Russell | RUS | Williams Mercedes | 1:09.953 |
| 18 | Mick Schumacher | MSC | Haas Ferrari | 1:10.329 |
| 19 | Nikita Mazepin | MAZ | Haas Ferrari | 1:10.589 |
| 20 | Lewis Hamilton | HAM | Mercedes | --- |
