Verstappen stripped of pole position, Russell inhertis first starting place at Qatar Grand Prix

Having secured his first pole position since the Austrian Grand Prix, four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen has been stripped of his first starting position after an incident in the dying stages of the qualifying session.

Following a low-key showing in Qatar F1 Sprint, Max Verstappen bounced back with an eye-catching performance in the main qualifying for tomorrow’s Qatar Grand Prix. The newly-crowned four-time world champion looked strong from the get-go, with Red Bull having made several tweaks to his RB following the sprint race.

The Dutchman needed a quick lap in the dying seconds of Q3 to beat George Russell, which he was able to deliver to secure his first pole position since the Austrian Grand Prix.

However, the FIA announced after the qualifying segment that the newly-crowned four-time F1 champion would be required to clear an incident that happened in the dying stages of the session.

Verstappen elected to complete an additional warm-up lap ahead of his final push lap, and while he was driving slowly, Russell caught him through the Turn 12-13-14 trio of right-handers.

The stewards have now confirmed that Verstappen has been given a one-place grid drop penalty for “driving unnecessarily slowly considering the circumstances.” It means that the Dutch driver will line up second on the grid tomorrow, with Russell inheriting the pole position for the Qatar F1 round.

The stewards’ verdict read: “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 1 (Max Verstappen), the driver of Car 63 (George Russell), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence.

“Car 1 was on a different preparation strategy to that of Car 63. 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 as 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.”