FIA declare Verstappen PENALTY decision after Austrian GP mistake

The FIA have confirmed whether of not they will handing reigning world champion Max Verstappen a penalty at this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull Ring hosts the second race of a European Triple header, which kicked off last week in Barcelona and was won by Verstappen.

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However, the Dutchman risked the weekend getting off to a terrible start given that he turned up late to the FIA's press conference on Thursday afternoon.

Verstappen was due to feature alongside a number of his fellow drivers but was 15 minutes late to the briefing due to a transport issue, which is potentially a breach of Article 19.1 a) of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

FIA announce Max Verstappen penalty decision

Despite confirming that he did breach that clause, the FIA decided that no penalty would be applied to the three-time world champion after the infringement on this occasion.

Explaining their decision in a document on Friday morning, the FIA wrote: "The Stewards received a report from the Media Delegate that the driver of Car 1 (Max Verstappen), was late for the Thursday Press Conference,"

"The Media Delegate reported that the driver had some transportation issues on the way to the track, but the team informed the FIA in advance.

"The Stewards conclude that the driver and the team took every reasonable measure given the circumstances and therefore impose no penalty despite technically the regulations have been breached."

Whilst the above was good news for Verstappen, on track, things were more challenging for the three-time world champion on Friday.

In FP1, Verstappen's car stopped on track, bringing out the red flags and temporarily halting Friday's practice action.

READ MORE: Ferrari ask for Verstappen-Red Bull test example scrutiny

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