Red Bull has been fined on three separate occasions during the FIA F1 governing body for Max Verstappen’s pit lane times ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Verstappen finished second in Sunday’s British Grand Prix, 1. 465 seconds behind race winner Lewis Hamilton, who took his first win since the penultimate race of the 2021 F1 season.
The Dutchman extended his lead over McLaren driver Lando Norris, third at Silverstone, to 84 points with 12 2024 F1 races completed.
After suffering a breakage en route to fourth on the grid in Saturday’s qualifying session, Verstappen had great success in conversion situations to claim his 11th podium of the year.
However, the three-time reigning world champion’s day went off without a hitch with three infringements per race in the pit lane, earning Red Bull three separate fines, totaling €300 (€100 consistent with the infringement).
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All of Verstappen’s infractions occurred in the pre-race reconnaissance laps, in which drivers can pit several times before lining up their cars on the grid.
Verstappen’s first and second transgressions were driving 0. 4 kilometers per hour faster than the speed limit in the pit lane at 80 km/h, and the third exceeded the limit at 0. 5 km/h.
Speaking late in the race, Verstappen feared finishing as low as fifth or sixth at one point as Red Bull struggled to make up time at Silverstone.
He said: “We just didn’t have the speed today.
“At first, he was slowly backing away when it mattered, so sometimes he didn’t seem smart. I was thinking, ‘Are we going to finish fifth, sixth?
“But we made the right decisions. Going from slicks to inters and also from inters to slicks is the right journey every time.
“And also, in the end, the team’s decision to use hard tires instead of soft tires helped me. That’s why I think we also finished second today. “
“It may have been much worse, but we made the right decisions, we still got the podium and of course I’m very pleased about that. “
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