Max Verstappen will not change his driving style despite facing one-race F1 penalty ban
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen faces a one-race penalty ban, but will not change his driving style
Max Verstappen enters the 2025 Formula 1 season hoping to defend his fourth consecutive Drivers’ Championship.
He also faces a potential one-race penalty.
Verstappen was docked two penalty points on his Super License for an opening-lap incident with Oscar Piastri at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. That penalty brought the total penalty points on his Super License to eight, four shy of the 12 penalty points that trigger an automatic one-race penalty ban.
Complicating matters is the fact that Verstappen will not see any of the eight penalty points currently on his Super License expire until July. The oldest penalty points on his license are the two he received for a collision with Lando Norris in the late stages of the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix. Those will not expire until June 30, 2025, days before this season’s British Grand Prix.
Penalty points remain on a driver’s Super License for a calendar year. The next points to expire on Verstappen’s Super Licence are the two he received for another incident with Norris, this time at the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix. Those expire on October 27, 2025.
That means that Verstappen will have to navigate 11 race weekends without picking up four additional penalty points. That includes a pair of F1 Sprint Race weekends, first at the Chinese Grand Prix in March, and then at the Miami Grand Prix in May.
Still, the reigning Drivers’ Champion has no intention of changing his driving style to avoid a penalty.
“I won’t change my driving style because of that,” Verstappen told German outlet Blick in an exclusive interview. “I know when I’ve gone too far.
“Like at the finale in Abu Dhabi when I attacked Piastri at the start. I had no problem apologizing to [him] after the race.”
However, other figures at Red Bull are more concerned about Verstappen being assessed a one-race penalty, including Senior Advisor Dr. Helmut Marko. Marko told Sky Sports Germany back in December that because of “inconsistency” in how stewards implement penalties, Verstappen and Red Bull must be “careful” at the start of the 2025 season.
We will see if Verstappen agrees when the season begins.