With one race to go before Red Bull’s home event, and Max Verstappen one point away from a race ban, the reigning four-time World Champion has been ordered not to do anything “rash” in Canada.

That reveal comes from Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko, who described the event that Verstappen is banned for Red Bull’s home race in Austria – albeit an unlikely one – as a “disaster” for the team.

Max Verstappen under no ‘rash’ actions Red Bull order for Canadian GP

After picking up three penalty points for a controversial collision with Mercedes’ George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix, Verstappen now has 11 on his FIA Super Licence, with 12 automatically triggering a one-race ban.

It means Verstappen will be walking a tightrope for the upcoming Canadian and Austrian GPs, with two due to drop off his 12-month rolling total following the later, Verstappen having received two points following a collision with McLaren’s Lando Norris in Austria 2024.

And the last thing Red Bull want is for their star driver Verstappen to be forced to sit out the 2025 staging of the Austrian Grand Prix, their home race, something which would happen should Verstappen pick up any further penalty points at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Marko says Red Bull do not expect this “disaster” scenario to come to fruition, and to further strengthen their position, Marko said Verstappen will be given the clear Red Bull order not to do “anything rash” in Canada.

Marko wrote in his post-Spanish GP Speedweek column: “Now he mustn’t do anything wrong over the next two race weekends, and of course he will be told not to do anything rash.

“It would be a disaster if he couldn’t start in Austria.

“But we don’t expect that to happen, because it’s not really the case that Max does anything wrong in every race. The first penalty points will be cancelled after Austria.”

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Marko explained that Verstappen had a series of “bitter pills to swallow” at the Spanish GP, from ending up on hard tyres at the Safety Car restart, to getting all out of shape onto the main straight, to hits from Charles Leclerc and Russell, before finally that incident at Turn 5 as it looked like he was slowing to let Russell through under Red Bull instruction, only to accelerate again and hit the Mercedes.

“You have to look at the overall situation,” Marko noted. “Firstly, he was given the hard tyre even though he didn’t want it. Then there was this swerve on the first lap, which almost sent him flying off. Next, Leclerc drives into the side of his car at a good 300 km/h. That went completely under the radar and was also very dangerous.

“Naturally, the atmosphere was tense as a result.

“Finally, there was an incident with Russell. And Max, who knows the regulations inside out, said that he didn’t have to give the place back. But he was told that he had to give the position back. That was a lot of bitter pills for him to swallow. On top of that, Russell is not exactly his best friend.”

Verstappen is now 49 points behind Drivers’ Championship leader Oscar Piastri, the McLaren driver taking his fifth win of the season in Spain.

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