The stewards took a dim view of the contact, hitting Verstappen with a 10-second penalty and three penalty points. This dropped him from fourth to 10th in the classification and brought him to within one penalty point of an automatic one-race suspension, which would have a disastrous impact on his title hopes.

Calum Nicholas, Max Verstappen's long-serving mechanic turned Red Bull Racing ambassador, expects him to win the F1 2025 title and retire.