As Crash.net reports, Max Verstappen has already found trouble on his GT World Challenge Europe debut weekend, walking away from the opening practice session with a reprimand from the stewards. The four-time Formula 1 world champion is competing in the season finale at Portimao, jumping back behind the wheel of the No.3 Team Verstappen Mercedes AMG he previously raced at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring earlier this year. Sharing the machine with Chris Lulham and Ben Barnicoat while regular drivers Dani Juncadella and Joules Gounon handle FIA World Endurance Championship duties in Barcelona, his weekend got off to a dramatic start.
Friday morning's FP1 session placed the No.3 crew 20th in the standings, sitting just 0.4s from top spot. But it was far from a quiet session. Early on, during his very first proper flying lap, Verstappen attempted an inside move at Turn 3 and tagged the No.25 Sainteloc Racing Audi of Ezequiel Perez Companc, sending him spinning.
Footage of the clash shows both machines forced into taking avoiding action. Perez explained that his focus was entirely on the cars ahead, leaving him completely unaware of Verstappen lunging up his inside line. Meanwhile, Verstappen argued that he simply expected the Audi to hold its position on the outside.
The stewards listened to both perspectives and took the mitigating circumstances into account, landing on a relatively lenient punishment. Alongside the official reprimand, the Red Bull driver was handed a single Behaviour Warning Point. The threshold is clear: two more points will trigger a five-place grid drop for his next GTWCE race appearance, four points escalate to a 10-place drop, and accumulating five points brings a drive-through penalty.
Thankfully, the schedule moves too fast for dwelling on stewards' decisions. Verstappen returned to the track at 12:45pm BST for the 90-minute FP2 session, with qualifying scheduled for later today ahead of the main race getting underway at 5pm BST on Saturday.
