F1: 5 times Verstappen Clashed with Other Drivers

#2 Mexico 2016

Another race in the 2016 season which saw an incident involving Max Verstappen was the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in Mexico, which had it back to the calendar in the previous season in 2015.

Verstappen had a stellar qualifying, putting his Red Bull in 3rd just behind the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Rosberg. Vettel had qualified back in 7th place. But both these drivers would be involved in a battle towards the end of the race.

In the final few laps, Verstappen, Vettel, and Ricciardo were all within one car length of each other and Verstappen was holding his own against the raging Ferrari. As he approached Turn 1, he locked up his front tyres and could not slow down enough to avoid going on the grass. He managed to come back to the track ahead of Vettel.

The German was immediately on his radio, urging his team to get Verstappen out of the way as he was pushed by Ricciardo. Verstappen did not budge though and took the chequered flag in third. He did no go on to the podium, however, as he was given a 5-second time penalty, putting Vettel on third.

He himself would be given a 10-second penalty for moving under braking to deny Ricciardo an overtake and a surprised Ricciardo was awarded the 15 points for third place.