Verstappen loses pole to Russell after one-place grid drop · F1 · RaceFans

Max Verstappen has lost pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix after being penalised for driving unnecessarily slowly in the final phase of qualifying.

The stewards issued the Red Bull driver with a one-place grid penalty. He will therefore start from second place behind George Russell

Race control announced before the end of today’s qualifying session the Red Bull driver was under investigation for his driving prior to his final flying lap. Russell complained the Red Bull driver held him up and forced him wide by going too slowly.

Drivers are required to obey a maximum time between the Safety Car lines after the pit lane exit and before the entrance. Verstappen was passed by Alonso, Norris and Russell as he prepared to begin his final lap.

Russell came close to colliding with Verstappen as he passed the Red Bull driver through turns 12 and 13. He complained on his radio it was “super-dangerous by Verstappen.”

Although neither driver was on a flying lap at the time of the incident, the stewards agreed with Russell’s claim that Verstappen was driving too slowly on the racing line.

“Car one [Verstappen] was on a different preparation strategy to that of car 63 [Russell],” they noted. “Car one was well outside of the delta and the driver of car one explained he had let cars four [Norris] and 14 [Alonso] past.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

“The driver of car 63 claimed that he had adhered to the delta and did not expect car one 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 one 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 one 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 three grid position penalty, however in mitigation of penalty, it was obvious that the driver of car 63 had clear visibility of car one and that neither car was on a push lap.”

Verstappen said he slowed down at that point on the track because other cars ahead of him had backed off. “There were two cars in front of me also making a gap, so I had to make a gap,” he said. “And I knew that everyone was on a slow lap, not on a push lap.

“Then I think George got excited. He wanted to pass and get around. That’s fine, everyone of course tries to get their position, to have the best possible start to the lap.”

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Russell, sitting with Verstappen in the press conference, said he was “following my delta” time. “I didn’t want to get penalised because we’re told to follow the delta.”

The stewards also handed Verstappen one penalty point on his licence. He is now on six for the current 12-month period.

One-place grid penalties are rare in Formula 1, but not unprecedented. Nico Hulkenberg received a one-place grid penalty at the German Grand Prix in 2016.

This article will be updated