Verstappen reprimanded for FP1 impeding

Max Verstappen has been handed his first reprimand of the season for impeding Valtteri Bottas during FP1 at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Bottas was approaching the final chicane at full speed but found Verstappen going slowly in the middle of the two corners. As a result, the Williams had to take evasive action and ran straight on in order to avoid a collision.

With both Bottas and Verstappen summoned to the stewards following the incident in order to explain their actions, Verstappen was then handed a reprimand after FP1.

"The driver slowed unnecessarily in front of car 77 [Bottas]," the stewards decision read.

Verstappen's reprimand is his first of the season. If a driver receives three reprimands in a season they will be handed an automatic ten place grid penalty.

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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.