Max Verstappen demoted to fourth with penalty for VSC breach

Max Verstappen has been hit with a five-second time penalty for a Virtual Safety Car rules breach during the F1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix sprint race. 

The penalty has demoted Verstappen, who finished third on the road, to fourth place and behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. 

It means the Red Bull driver has dropped another point to title rival Lando Norris, who was handed victory in the sprint by teammate Oscar Piastri following a McLaren team order.

Verstappen now leads Norris by 44 points with four grands prix and one sprint race remaining. 

The Dutchman will serve a five-place grid drop in Sunday's grand prix after moving onto his sixth internal combustion engine of the year.

Verstappen has also had a penalty point applied to his licence. 

"Article 56.5 states in part “All cars must also be above this minimum time when the FIA light panels change to green.” The driver was 0.63 seconds below the minimum time at VSC End when the FIA light panels changed to green," the stewards report said. 

"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 geen. This is a breach and the standard penalty is applied for the advantage gained at that time.

"The net effect of this put the driver ahead of where he was at the start of the VSC and not as a result of the car in front falling back."