Why was Verstappen only hit with a penalty after the chequered flag fell at the Miami Grand Prix?

Max Verstappen was hit with a post‑race penalty at the Miami Grand Prix after the stewards determined that he crossed the solid white line at pit exit during his early stop under the Safety Car.

The infringement, investigated after the race due to limited initial footage, resulted in a standard five‑second time penalty.

The Red Bull driver had pitted early when the Safety Car was deployed, but as he rejoined the circuit, he was noted for potentially crossing the line that separates the pit‑exit lane from the track.

With only partial video evidence available during the race, the stewards opted to defer their decision until they could review additional angles.

In their report, the stewards explained the unusual timing of the investigation: “When the incident occurred, there was limited video evidence to make a clear decision on whether an infringement had occurred,” they wrote.

“We therefore decided to investigate the incident after the race, to see if we could get better video evidence of the incident in the meantime, perhaps from other angles. We were able to do so.”

The additional footage proved decisive: "The new angles did show more views of the pit exit line and the incident in question.”

Verstappen told the stewards that he had exited the pits under full‑course yellow conditions, but the panel concluded that his car had nonetheless crossed the boundary line.

“The driver of Car 3 explained that he was driving out of the pit exit and rejoined the race under full course yellow. The stewards determined that the outside of the front left-hand tyre did cross the outside of the solid white pit exit line in violation of Appendix L, Chapter IV Article 6 c) of the International Sporting Code.”

Given the nature of the breach, the stewards applied the standard sanction: “Given the nature of the infraction, the stewards elected to impose a penalty of five seconds.”