Max Verstappen punished by FIA after breaking Silverstone rule three times

Red Bull were fined no fewer than three times as Max Verstappen repeatedly broke the same rule at Silverstone.

The Dutchman was driving as fast as he could to try to deny his three British rivals a fairytale win at their home Grand Prix. But he should have been watching his speed a little more closely before the race got under way.

On his reconnaissance laps after the pit lane opened, he was clocked on three separate occasions going faster than the 80kph limit. Both were very minor infractions – the first two 0.4kph over the limit, and the second only marginally quicker at 0.5kph over.

Red Bull were fined £85 per offence, meaning a negligible cost for Verstappen’s rule-breaking. And the way the race turned out meant he also didn’t suffer on the sporting side.

He started fourth and failed to win the race, but did finish second in the end behind Lewis Hamilton who finally returned to the top step of an F1 podium. Verstappen actually extended his championship lead over Lando Norris, who he overtook in the latter stages.

The 26-year-old said after the race that he was pleased with that result having feared that he would slip backwards as Red Bull struggled for speed compared to his rivals in the early stages. He told reporters: “We just didn’t have the pace today.

“I was slowly dropping back when it mattered in the beginning, so it didn’t look great at some points. I was really thinking, ‘Are we going to finish fifth, sixth?’ But we made the right calls. Going from the slicks to the inters and also from the inters back to the slicks, it was the right lap every time.

“And then also, at the end, the call from the team to be on the hard tyre instead of a soft was definitely helping me out. That’s why I think we also finished second today. So it could have been a lot worse, but we’re making the right calls, we still got on to the podium and I’m of course very happy with that.”

Norris was leading the race but fell behind Hamilton as a result of a slow pit stop, caused by him missing his marks in front of the McLaren garage. And the Briton admitted he only had himself to blame for missing out on just a second career F1 Grand Prix victory.

The rueful 24-year-old said: “It’s still lovely to be on the podium… but I blame myself [for not winning]. I’m not making the right decisions. I hate ending in this position and making excuses… if there’s one place I’d like everything to go perfectly, it’s here.”