Max Verstappen has been penalised for impeding George Russell during qualifying for the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix, handing pole position to the Mercedes driver.
The Dutchman had claimed his first pole since the Austrian GP in June, but relinquished the spot after incurring a one-place grid penalty.
Verstappen was summoned to the stewards after qualifying on pole to determine whether he should be punished for impeding Russell.
The Red Bull driver slowed through the Turn 12, 13, 14 sequence of right-hand corners, just as Russell was fast-approaching.
Russell had to take evading action and blasted Verstappen over team radio, saying the manoeuvre was “super dangerous.”
Upon their review, the Stewards’ verdict was issued and read as follows: “Car 1 [Verstappen] was on a different preparation strategy to that of Car 63 [Russell].
“Car 1 was well outside of the delta and the driver of Car 1 explained he had let Cars 4 [Lando Norris]and 14 [Fernando Alonso] past.
“The driver of Car 63 claimed that he had adhered to the delta and did not expect Car 1 to be on the racing line. He stated that if a car was going slow in a high speed corner, it should not be on the racing line.
“The Stewards regard this case as a complicated one in that clearly Car 1 did not comply with the Race Director’s Event Notes and clearly was driving, in our determination, unnecessarily slowly considering the circumstances.
“It was obvious the driver of Car 1 was attempting to cool his tyres. He also could see Car 63 approaching as he looked in his mirror multiple times whilst on the small straight between Turns 11 and 12.
“Unusually, this incident occurred when neither car was on a push lap. Had Car 63 been on a push lap, the penalty would have most likely been the usual 3 grid position penalty, however in mitigation of penalty, it was obvious that the driver of Car 63 had clear visibility of Car 1 and that neither car was on a push lap.”
Speaking about the incident from his perspective, Verstappen said in the post-qualifying press conference “there were two cars in front of me also making a gap, so I had to make a gap.
“And I knew that everyone was on a slow lap, not on a push lap. Yeah. And then I think George got excited. He wanted to pass and get around. That’s fine. I mean, everyone, of course, tries to get their position, you know, to have the best possible start to the lap.”
Russell interjected saying “I was following my delta,” to which Verstappen jokingly replied, “Next time just drive straight through!”
George Russell describes ‘hairy’ qualifying incident with Max Verstappen
Speaking on the incident from his perspective, Russell pondered whether his evasive action with Verstappen cost him a shot at pole.
The Dutchman out-qualified Russell by a slender margin of 0.055s in Lusail, having failed to improve on his initial run.
“I ended up going through the gravel,” Russell said of the Verstappen incident.
“All over the floor, through the floor. So it felt like the floor was scraping over that kerb and through the gravel.
“So I hope it didn’t damage it. Maybe that’s the reason why we didn’t improve. I don’t know.
“But it was a bit of a hairy one, two corners before we start the lap.”
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