Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsToro Rosso

Verstappen four points from race ban

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Max Verstappen is four points from an automatic one-race ban after being penalised on two occasions in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

New regulations introduced in 2014 see drivers accumulate penalty points on their racing licence, which last for 12 months. If a driver reaches 12 points over the 12-month period, they will receive an automatic ban for one race.

Verstappen received one penalty point for going off track and gaining and advantage against Jenson Button at Turn 9, with the Stewards also handing the Toro Rosso driver a five-second time penalty during the race. Following that incident, Verstappen was then investigated for ignoring blue flags and hit with two further penalty points after the race along with a retrospective drive-through penalty, equating to 20 seconds on his race time.

The three points accumulated by Verstappen in Abu Dhabi take him up to eight points in total at present, four shy of receiving a ban. Verstappen's first points of the year were handed out in Monaco where he crashed in to the back of Romain Grosjean.

As a result, Verstappen will be close to a ban for the first five races of 2016, with the Monaco Grand Prix - the sixth round of the season - currently scheduled to take place on May 29, five days after the first two points on his licence will expire.

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AS IT HAPPENED: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.