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A penalty for a virtual safety car infringement knocked Max Verstappen down from third to fourth place in the Sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on Saturday.

Verstappen, 27, saw his advantage in the championship standings over fellow title contender Lando Norris reduced to 44 points with four grands prix left on the schedule.

As a result of Verstappen’s five-second penalty, Charles Leclerc finished third in the final standings of the sprint race in Brazil. Norris won after swapping places with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, who had been leading with two laps remaining and finished second.

With Nico Hulkenberg stopped on the track as the race winded down, the VSC was sent out to clear the Haas car after McLaren had swapped its drivers to put Norris out in front. Verstappen was close to Piastri and had radioed his Red Bull team about Piastri possibly falling far enough behind Norris that he couldn’t provide a buffer against Verstappen challenging for the lead.

When the race resumed with the final lap, it was ruled that Verstappen was in violation of the minimum delta time allowed and received the five-second penalty.

“Article 56.5 states in part, ‘All cars must also be above this minimum time when the FIA light panels change to green,'” the stewards’ decision read. “The driver was 0.63 seconds below the minimum time at VSC End when the FIA light panels changed to green. This indicates a sporting advantage gained under VSC.

“The driver explained that as he was awaiting VSC to end and he got the notification that he was below the minimum time, he attempted to correct the error but failed to do so by the point that the panels turned green. This is a breach and the standard penalty is applied for the advantage gained at that time.”

Including Saturday’s penalty point, Verstappen is five shy of an automatic one-race suspension, having accumulated seven in a 12-month period.

For taking an extra power unit component, Verstappen was given a grid penalty and will start five places back for Sunday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

–Field Level Media