The F1 stewards have defined why they opted to concern Max Verstappen a one-place grid penalty for the Qatar Grand Prix.
Verstappen set the quickest lap time on the finish of Q3 on the Lusail Worldwide Circuit to safe his first pole place since June.
Nonetheless, he was summoned to the stewards who launched an investigation into the Dutchman for driving too slowly.
Verstappen had a near-miss with Russell within the scenario, with the Mercedes driver now inheriting pole place – his fourth of the season.
Explaining why it determined to punish Verstappen, the F1 stewards mentioned: “Automobile 1 [Verstappen] was on a special preparation technique to that of Automobile 63 [Russell].
“Automobile 1 was effectively outdoors of the delta and the motive force of Automobile 1 defined he had let Vehicles 4 and 14 previous.
“The driving force of Automobile 63 claimed that he had adhered to the delta and didn’t count on Automobile 1 to be on the racing line. He acknowledged that if a automobile was going sluggish in a excessive velocity nook, it shouldn’t be on the racing line.
“The Stewards regard this case as a sophisticated one in that clearly Automobile 1 didn’t adjust to the Race Director’s Occasion Notes and clearly was driving, in our willpower, unnecessarily slowly contemplating the circumstances.
“It was apparent the motive force of Automobile 1 was making an attempt to chill his tyres.
“He additionally might see Automobile 63 approaching as he appeared in his mirror a number of instances while on the small straight between Turns 11 and 12. Unusually, this incident occurred when neither automobile was on a push lap.
“Had Automobile 63 been on a push lap, the penalty would have almost certainly been the same old 3 grid place penalty, nonetheless in mitigation of penalty, it was apparent that the motive force of Automobile 63 had clear visibility of Automobile 1 and that neither automobile was on a push lap.”
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