Max Verstappen’s ‘FIFA points’ to take a hit after huge Brazilian GP punishment

Lewis Hamilton goes undercover to inspire school children

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Max Verstappen has revealed his ‘FIFA points’ are set to take a huge hit after being smacked with a £42,500 (€50,000) fine for breaching parc ferme rules over the Brazillian Grand Prix weekend. After Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time during Friday’s qualifying session, Verstappen was spotted touching the back of Hamilton’s car while it was under parc ferme conditions, inspecting the rear wing of the Mercedes compared with the Red Bull.

The Dutchman was summoned to the stewards, as Hamilton was investigated for a separate incident regarding his rear wing.

Verstappen was then hit with a hefty fine ahead of the sprint race, with Hamilton disqualified from the session after a technical infringement regarding his rear wing.

Speaking after finishing second in Saturday’s sprint race, however, Verstappen, a keen gamer, was able to find the funny side to it, adding he hoped the FIA enjoyed a night out on him.

He said: “It’s quite a big fine, so I hope they have a nice dinner and a lot of wine.

“I hope good expensive wine, that would be nice. They can invite me for dinner as well. I’ll pay for that dinner too.”

But when quizzed by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, the winner of the race and therefore polesitter for Sunday’s main event, about if Red Bull would pay the fine, the 24-year-old responded: “I do have to pay. So that’s a little bit less FIFA points for me on my laptop.”

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After an overnight investigation, a post-session technical check into the Mercedes rear wing showed the DRS was found to be opening the wing more than the permitted distance.

As a result, Hamilton was disqualified from the qualifying session and relegated to the back of the grid for the sprint race.

But loaded with a new engine, Hamilton carved his way through the pack to overtake 15 cars in 24 laps.

When asked why he reached out to touch Hamilton’s car, Verstappen replied: “Well, I was clearly looking at the wing.

“So, yeah, I mean, you can see on the video what I did exactly. I was just looking at how much the rear wing was flexing at that point.”

However, the Dutchman said his actions “had nothing to do with the DRS – what they [the FIA] were looking at”.

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Horner added that Verstappen was nothing but “inquisitive” in his actions.

“Well, as we see with many, many drivers, they like to look around and see what’s going on with the other cars,” Horner told Sky F1.

“I’m sure that’s all it was, just a bit of inquisitiveness and nothing more. We’ve had drivers pull our clutch paddles, tyres pushed, heads in cockpits. It’s never been brought up previously.

“Obviously Mercedes’ straight-line speed is very impressive.

“I think, maybe, he is just having a look at that. Drivers are very inquisitive animals sometimes and, as I said, we’ve seen that many, many times.

“The [Mercedes] car has been reported to the stewards because it failed the DRS test. The test is quite clear and we all saw the video footage of the Mercedes car failing the test.

“I can’t then see how the car can be deemed to comply with the regulations. It is fairly binary. It’s either in or out.

“I remember back to 2012, we had an issue with the front wing and it failed the test. We were picked out and we had to start from the back of the grid.

“You have the right to appeal it of course but, as a team, we chose not to on that day and we were able to come through to P3.”

Bottas leads the way on Sunday, alongside Verstappen, with Hamilton down in P10.

Verstappen now holds a 21-point lead over Hamilton in the driver standings with just four races remaining in the fight for the 2021 Formula One World Championship title.

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