Max Verstappen finishes in 10th place at the Spanish Grand Prix after time penalty

Max Verstappen finished in a hugely disappointing 10th place at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday. The reigning champion finished the race in fifth place, but he was pushed back to 10th due to a time penalty. Oscar Piastri of McLaren won the race.

Verstappen had been arguing with his team about changing tires before he collided with Charles Leclerc of Ferrari after the safety car had kept the drivers behind it for a while. Leclerc passed Verstappen during the incident, and the British driver George Russell of Mercedes also went past Verstappen. The Dutch driver blocked Russell illegally and was punished for this straight after the race had finished.

It had all begun so well for Verstappen. The reigning champion started in third place but overtook Lando Norris in the McLaren after the start of the race before making a gap to Norris with Piastri.

But the McLaren was faster than the Red Bull vehicle, and the gap between Piastri and Verstappen was already at two seconds after five laps. Verstappen was complaining to his team that he had no grip on the car, while Piastri kept enhancing his lead, and Norris also took back his second place from Verstappen in the 13th lap.

This led to Verstappen rushing into the pit lane to get a change of tires. He came out in eighth place, but with the fresh tires, he quickly made his way back to third place.

The Dutch driver took the lead in the race in the 25th lap after Piastri and Norris had gone in and, unlike Verstappen, went for medium tires rather than softs. Verstappen also went for medium tires after 30 laps of racing and came back to fourth place, with the regular order being restored shortly thereafter.

Verstappen was keeping the pressure on the two McLaren drivers. A safety car was deployed after Kimi Antonelli had crashed in his Mercedes. The top 3 in the race went into the pits, with Verstappen coming out on hard tires, a decision made by the team which led to anger from Verstappen.

His battle with the McLarens, who just like the rest of the teams, had gone for soft tires, began with seven laps to go. Verstappen lost his third place to Leclerc, who Verstappen claims had collided with his car during the overtake. He then hit Russell after this. The FIA stewards ruled that Verstappen had done this intentionally and hit him with a time penalty.