Verstappen loses Qatar GP pole after one-place grid penalty

Max Verstappen has been stripped of his Qatar Grand Prix pole position after being handed a one-place grid penalty for impeding George Russell in Formula 1 qualifying.

Verstappen had clinched his first pole since the Austrian Grand Prix in June after beating Russell by 0.055 seconds, completing a significant turnaround in Red Bull’s form at the Losail circuit.

But the Dutchman was summoned to the stewards’ office as he was investigated for driving unnecessarily slowly in front of Russell, as the two almost came to blows at the Turns 12-13-14 triple right-hander.

On a build lap, Russell approached a slow Verstappen at Turn 12, and got onto the brakes to avoid contact with the Red Bull driver. He then dipped a wheel onto the gravel, before making his way past at Turn 13. He regarded this as “super dangerous” over the radio.

The stewards summoned both drivers to review the incident, and it was decreed that Verstappen had been driving outside of his delta and should be given a one-place grid drop for Sunday’s race – which hands pole to Russell.

The stewards’ report read: “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 and 14 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.”

The report noted that the fact that neither driver was on a push lap reduced the scope of the penalty, as a driver impeding someone on a flying lap behind would produce a three-place penalty in normal circumstances.

“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 three grid position penalty.

“However in mitigation of the 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.”

Prior to the stewards’ verdict, Verstappen expressed his surprise at being called to the stewards and felt that he was simply reacting to the cars in front – and that Russell should have done the same.

“We were all just driving slowly. I wouldn’t know what I could have done differently,” Verstappen said. “The fact that I have to go [to the stewards’ office] is already very strange to me. Otherwise, next time I’ll just drive flat out too and pretend to crash [into the other car].”

“He should have braked. I braked. Just like the cars in front of me. And I don’t want to screw them. I’m honestly a bit done with all of this at the end of the season.”