Red Bull spoke to Formula 1’s governing body before the Canadian Grand Prix to warn officials that Max Verstappen’s rivals might try to lure the Dutch driver into a one-race ban, according to team boss Christian Horner.

Four-time world champion Verstappen arrived in Montreal with 11 penalty points on his super license, following a collision with Mercedes’ George Russell in Spain, and 12 triggering an automatic suspension.

Verstappen will not shed any points until after Austria, Red Bull’s home race, on June 29.

Horner revealed after Sunday’s race that Red Bull spoke to FIA race director Rui Marques after a drivers’ meeting Friday to express the team’s concern and ask him to watch out for any potential trickery.

“I think that it was inevitable that there was going to be some potential gamesmanship,” Horner told reporters.

“It’s something that we raised after the driver’s briefing with the race director, just so that they were mindful of it as well, because it was clear that that kind of stuff goes on.

“We just said to him, look, could they please keep an eye on it because there’s been, obviously, comments have been raised in the media’.”

Russell said after qualifying on the pole that he had more penalty points to play with than Verstappen, which could work to his advantage.

After the Briton won Sunday, with Verstappen second, Red Bull protested.

A subsequent stewards’ document rejecting the protest revealed that Red Bull had claimed unsportsmanlike behavior by Russell when the safety car was deployed.

Red Bull argued that Russell braked unnecessarily and erratically behind the safety car along the back straight and that he complained over the team radio that Verstappen had gone past when not allowed to.

Red Bull said that the radio message “displayed unsportsmanlike intent” and that Russell’s braking had taken Verstappen by surprise, leaving him no alternative but to overtake him momentarily.

The team also suggested that onboard cameras showed Russell looking in his mirrors before braking “to force [Verstappen] to overtake to force an infringement.”

Russell denied it and said he was not trying to force an investigation, and Mercedes pointed out that they had not lodged any complaint. The stewards accepted that there was no unsportsmanlike conduct.

Russell and Verstappen have a simmering rivalry, and Red Bull have protested twice in the space of five races against the Mercedes driver.