Max Verstappen keeps P5 despite penalty at Miami Grand Prix

Max Verstappen took the checkered flag in fifth place at Sunday’s Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, for the best Grand Prix finish of his 2026 season to date.

But he needed to wait a little longer for confirmation of that result.

Verstappen was one of several drivers summoned to meet with race officials following a chaotic Miami Grand Prix, which saw Kimi Antonelli secure his third consecutive Grand Prix victory. Red Bull brought a series of upgrades to the track for Verstappen and teammate Isack Hadjar, which helped the four-time Drivers’ Champion secure P2 in qualifying for Sunday’s main event.

But after a frenetic start, Verstappen pitted early under a Safety Car, but race officials noted a potential incident with his stop as replays showed the driver crossing the white line separating the pit exit and the track when he rejoined the fight.

Following the race, and a meeting with the stewards, Verstappen was given a five-second penalty.

“When the incident occurred, there was limited video evidence to make a clear decision on whether an infringement had occurred,” read the stewards’ report, which you can read here at Document 99.

“We therefore decided to investigate the incident after the race, to see if we could get better video evidence of the incident in the meantime, perhaps from other angles. We were able to do so.

“The new angles did show more views of the pit exit line and the incident in question.

“The driver of Car 3 explained that he was driving out of the pit exit and rejoined the race under full course yellow. The stewards determined that the outside of the front left-hand tyre did cross the outside of the solid white pit exit line in violation of Appendix L, Chapter IV Article 6 c) of the International Sporting Code.

“Given the nature of the infraction, the stewards elected to impose a penalty of five seconds.”

Standing alone, the penalty would have dropped Verstappen to sixth behind Charles Leclerc, as the two drivers finished within a half-second of each other following a tough battle on the track. But Leclerc was hit with a significant 20-second penalty for a violation of his own, as he was adjudged by the stewards to have left the track multiple times to gain an advantage during the dramatic final lap. Leclerc spun early at Turn 3 and hit the wall, after which he continued on but cut through several chicanes on his way to the checkered flag.

The penalty dropped Leclerc to eighth.

With Verstappen’s fifth-place finish official, the Red Bull driver now sits seventh in the Drivers’ Championship standings, having picked up two positions in the table.