Max Verstappen heads to Monaco GP with clean F1…. check the comment section for more detailsÂ
The incident you’re referring to was a major flashpoint in the 2025 season. After the restart in the Spanish Grand Prix, Max Verstappen disagreed with his team’s instruction to give a position back to George Russell and subsequently made contact with Russell’s Mercedes. The stewards judged Verstappen to be at fault, issuing a 10-second penalty and three penalty points on his super licence. Those points left him just one point away from an automatic one-race ban.
What’s notable now is that the penalty points from that incident have expired under the FIA’s rolling 12-month system. As a result, Verstappen arrives at the current Monaco weekend with no active penalty points on his licence for the first time in quite a while.
The article’s main point is that the contrast is striking:
June 2025: Verstappen was under intense scrutiny and on the brink of a suspension after the Russell collision.
June 2026: He starts with a clean disciplinary record, removing the constant risk that any further penalty point could trigger a race ban.
The collision remains controversial because many observers viewed it as a deliberate act rather than a racing incident. The stewards’ decision and the relatively modest sporting penalty sparked considerable debate throughout the F1 community.
From a championship perspective, the incident was also costly. The time penalty dropped Verstappen down the order in Spain, costing him points that later proved significant in the title battle.