Verstappen stripped of Qatar pole for qualifying incident with Russell

Max Verstappen has lost pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix after being handed a grid penalty for an incident with George Russell during qualifying. Russell complained that Verstappen drove in a “super dangerous” manner when he slowed to create a gap before his final attempt in Q3, with Russell having to take evasive action and nearly running into the back of the Red Bull. Russell proceeded to overtake Verstappen and start his lap, with the stewards investigating the Dutchman for “driving unnecessarily slowly.” Following a lengthy wait, Verstappen has been handed a one-place grid penalty three hours after the end of qualifying, demoting him to second place and promoting Russell to pole. The stewards explained the usual three-place grid drop was not imposed because Russell could clearly see Verstappen, and neither driver was on a push lap at the time. “Car No. 1 was on a different preparation strategy to that of Car No. 63,” the stewards’ decision read. “Car No. 1 was well outside of the delta and the driver of Car No. 1 explained he had let Cars Nos. 4 and 14 past. The driver of Car No. 63 claimed that he had adhered to the delta and did not expect Car No. 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 No. 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 No. 1 was attempting to cool his tires. He also could see Car No. 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 No. 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 No. 63 had clear visibility of Car No. 1 and that neither car was on a push lap.” The penalty also carries one penalty point, giving Verstappen six for the 12-month period. His last pole position in Belgium also came with a grid penalty for exceeding power unit components, meaning Verstappen’s last official pole remains the Austrian Grand Prix in June.