Max Verstappen will be forced to serve a drive-thru penalty in the first three laps of the Italian Grand Prix as punishment for his Toro Rosso's engine cover coming off in spect♋acular fashion during qualifying.

In the rush to exit the pit lane to start a lap before the chequered flag🍸 - having been delayed by technical problಌems - the engine cover was not fastened properly, causing it to rip off as he entered Ascari and leaving debris strewn across the circuit.

With a focus on ensuring errant debris doesn't cause issues, particularly in the wake of Pirelli tyres failures at Spa-Francorchamps and the death of Justin Wilson in the United State🔯s, the ensuing punishment has been levelled as the Dutchman is already serving a grid penalty for an engine change coming into qualifying.

Despitꦫe this, Verstappen thanked the Toro Rosso team for it♑s efforts in attempting to get him out again, even though it proved ill-fated.

"I'd like to say 𓃲thank you for the big effort," he said. "Ok, we all saw that some bodywork came off the car when I was out on track, but you have to understand that they always try their best, they wanted me 🧸to get out there and these things sometimes happen when you are on the limit, fighting against time."

With all Renault and Honda-engined drivers - amounting to six in total - all facing penalties for power unit changes, Verstappen 🦂is currently set to start a provisional 18th.