Why did Max Verstappen drive through the grass at the end of the 2025 Chinese GP?

The 2025 Chinese Grand Prix was a landmark race for Oscar Piastri, who delivered the first pole of his career and his first win of the season. It also witnessed three disqualifications in the shape of Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and Pierre Gasly. While this news dominated initial coverage, attention eventually turned to captured footage from after the race showing Max Verstappen deliberately driving through the grass next to the pit entrance.

Why would a racing driver purposefully drive through the grass ahead of scrutineering on the cooldown lap? It’s very simple: to add weight.

Formula 1 cars are subject to strict technical regulations – something that Hamilton, Leclerc, and Gasly were each reminded of – and a minimum weight is one of these. For 2025, this is set to 800kg and covers everything on the car, including the driver, but excluding fuel. Following a race, cars and their drivers are guided to a set of scales and weighed in scrutineering, and if they measure in at just a feather under 800 kg, usually disqualification will follow.

Weight collection

Weight collection is a tactic employed by drivers to add as much weight to the car as possible between the race end and the weigh-in. By driving offline to pick up marbles – small pieces of rubber that have shed off tyres and other debris – drivers can artificially raise their cars’ weights. While this seems a bit fishy, it’s perfectly within the rules, and is carried out by every driver on the grid. 

The Shanghai Grand Prix ended up being a long race for the drivers. The grippy but abrasive new surface of the track didn’t have as much effect on the tyres as expected, with the majority of the drivers and teams choosing a one-stop over the assumed two. Because of this, the tyres which had travelled the longer race distance were lighter due to the rubber used. This is the exact phenomenon that caused, or at least contributed to George Russell’s disqualification at Spa last year.

Over a full stint, a tyre can lose around a kilogram of rubber.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is experienced. He knew that after his one-stop, he’d need a bit more pickup on the tyres after losing more rubber than intended. So when he returned to the pits, he deliberately drove over the grassy areas of the pit entrance. This can only be interpreted as a way to pick up as much weight as possible, with the hot rubber of the tyres acting as as a magnet to the dirt.

With the Japanese Grand Prix returning next weekend, Ferrari and Alpine will no doubt be more cautious in avoiding similar costly errors.