Williams junior Luke Browning was reportedly the target of Max Verstappen’s light-hearted middle-finger gesture during F1 2025 pre-season testing in Bahrain.

And the Red Bull driver is set to escape punishment for the act despite the FIA’s recent clampdown on driver misconduct.

Luke Browning the target of Max Verstappen middle-finger gesture

Onboard footage from Verstappen’s car showed the World Champion raising his middle finger as he made his way down the pit lane during the final day of pre-season testing in Bahrain on Friday.

It was initially unclear who was on the receiving end of the gesture, with some speculating that Verstappen may have taken issue with a photographer as he passed the Williams pit wall.

However, a report by German publication Motorsport-Total has claimed that Browning, the 23-year-old Williams academy driver, was the target.

It is said that Verstappen’s raised finger was intended as a light-hearted greeting with the World Champion known to have a friendly relationship with Browning.

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Browning is preparing for his first full season in F1 feeder series Formula 2 with Hitech in 2025 having finished third in the F3 standings last year.

He previously claimed victory in the prestigious Macau Grand Prix in 2023 and made his first FP1 appearance for Williams at last year’s season finale in Abu Dhabi, as well as sharing driving duties with Carlos Sainz in the post-season test at Yas Marina.

The report adds that Verstappen is set to avoid punishment for the gesture, with F1’s governing body the FIA opting against an investigation of the incident.

The FIA published revised stewards’ guidelines for misconduct charges in January with drivers at risk of fines, race bans and points deductions in F1 2025.

The revisions came after a high-profile stand off between Verstappen and the FIA at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, where the Red Bull driver was sanctioned for swearing in a pre-race press conference.

Verstappen responded by staging a form of protest for the remainder of the weekend, offering only short answers in the FIA press conferences and holding an impromptu media gathering in the paddock after qualifying once the official session had finished.

The 27-year-old carried out his community service punishment ahead of the FIA’s annual prize-giving ceremony in December, appearing in a community event in host nation Rwanda.

Adrien Fourmaux, the Hyundai WRC star, became the first driver to fall foul of the new-for-2025 guidelines at last month’s Rally Sweden, where he remarked that he had “f**ked up” during a stage-end interview having forgotten to fasten his helmet before starting a stage.

Fourmaux was forced to stop during the stage to resolve the issue, losing crucial time to his rivals.

His comments saw him hit with a fine of €10,000, with a further €20,000 suspended for 12 months.

The incident with Browning is not the only ‘skirmish’ Verstappen has had with a Williams driver in recent months, having also upset a Williams-affiliated sim racer in January.

After two clashes with Verstappen in quick succession in a virtual race at Road America, Williams iRacing Academy driver Jaden Munoz launched a furious rant at the four-time F1 World Champion.

Munoz said: “Look how dumb he is. He doesn’t change, ever. He’s so dumb.

“I knew it. This is why you’re gifted everything in your life, Max.

“You’re a spoiled brat. You’d be nothing without your father, you’d be nothing. You’d be a nobody.

“He’s such a f***ing idiot.”

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Verstappen will be walking a disciplinary tightrope for the first half of the F1 2025 season with a potential F1 race ban looming.

He is poised to begin the new campaign on eight penalty points, with drivers triggering a one-race ban if they hit 12 points over a 12-month period.

Former Haas star Kevin Magnussen was forced to sit out last year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix after becoming the first driver to be banned under F1’s penalty points system introduced in 2014.

Verstappen picked up six of his eight penalty points across the final five rounds of F1 2024, with the Red Bull man hit with two penalty points for forcing McLaren driver Lando Norris off track at the Mexican Grand Prix in October.

A week later, Verstappen was given a further point for being under the minimum Virtual Safety Car delta time during the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race.

Another point followed for driving unnecessarily slowly in qualifying in Qatar, which sparked a furious row between Verstappen and Mercedes driver George Russell.

The following week, Verstappen was given two penalty points for causing a collision with Norris’s McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri at the start of the Abu Dhabi season finale.

Verstappen’s penalty points tally is not scheduled to decrease until June 30, the day after the Austrian Grand Prix, when his two points for causing a collision with Norris in the 2024 race falls outside of the 12-month window.

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