Max Verstappen at risk of ANOTHER penalty as F1 stewards investigate him at Brazilian GP

Max Verstappen is under investigation accused of breaking virtual safety car rules towards the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint race.

The Dutchman already has a five-place grid penalty for the main Grand Prix on Sunday after he was forced to add another engine to his pool for the season. And another punishment may be headed his way.

The stewards are looking into how he approached the ending of a Virtual Safety Car period at the climax of the Sprint on Saturday. He was on the back of Oscar Piastri, who had shortly before moved aside to allow team-mate Lando Norris to take the lead.

Desperate to get past at least one of the McLarens if he could, Verstappen brought himself as close as possible to the back of Piastri's machine at the message came through on the final lap that the Virtual Safety Car period was ending.

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When yellow flags are waving, though, no overtaking is allowed and it is also not permitted for cars to pull alongside another either until racing resumes. Drivers must also adhere to a 'delta' lap time during a VSC period and, if they are found to have gone faster than that time, that too is an infringement.

The FIA has not said what exactly Verstappen is accused of, other than a breach of VSC rules. But it has been confirmed that the stewards will look into the case, placing the triple F1 champion at risk of a penalty.

Speaking after the Sprint race, his team boss Christian Horner made it clear that he was not too concerned about his driver being punished for the way he approached the ending of the VSC period. He said: "On everything that we can see, it looks okay. Let's see."

Verstappen finished third behind the two McLarens as Norris gained two points on his title rival, narrowing the gap slightly to 45. But Horner said: "I think the most encouraging thing in that race for us was that the race pace was decent. To stick on the tail for 24 laps and pass Charles [Leclerc], that was encouraging."