Verstappen escapes penalty after reversing to rejoin

It’s not often you see a Formula 1 driver reversing, but that’s what Max Verstappen resorted to after getting his braking wrong into Ste Devote during Monaco GP first practice…

The Red Bull driver had a big front-left lock up on the approach to the first turn and opted to take to the escape road rather than attempting to make the corner.

Rather than spin the car round, he engaged reverse and moved back on track, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel cutting the corner to avoid Verstappen.

The stewards investigated whether Verstappen had returned to the track in an unsafe manner, but after speaking to the Dutchman and reviewing footage, they deemed no further action was necessary.

They said yellow flags had been waved to warn other drivers Verstappen had run off track at the first corner and Verstappen had rejoined in a manner “that posed no danger to the other drivers”.

Verstappen was second quickest in first practice, 0.154s slower than Red Bull team mate Daniel Ricciardo, as the duo lay down a marker on a weekend where they are expected to challenge for pole position and the victory.