Verstappen hit with one-place grid penalty for Russell incident during Qatar GP qualifying

Max Verstappen has lost his pole position starting spot for the Qatar Grand Prix after being hit with a one-place grid penalty by the stewards following an incident with George Russell during the final part of qualifying in Qatar.
The Dutchman’s lap time was good enough to award him his first pole since the Austrian Grand Prix, but the stewards have opted to penalise him for driving unnecessarily slowly ahead of the Mercedes.
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The Red Bull man was on a slow lap as he built up for his final attempt in Q3 with the Mercedes of Russell quickly catching up to him. In the end Russell was forced to take evasive action through the gravel, which he later theorised could have affected his lap.
The Mercedes driver said: “I ended up going through the gravel all over the floor, so it felt like the floor was scraping over that kerb and through the gravel so I hope it didn’t damage it.
“Maybe that’s the reason we didn’t improve – I don’t know, but it was a bit of a hairy one, two corners before we started the lap.”
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Verstappen was summoned to the stewards shortly after qualifying alongside Russell, with Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner defending the slow driving to Sky Sports F1 by explaining that everyone was “jockeying and pushing for position” on their respective outlaps.
In a document published by the FIA, the stewards explained that they heard from both drivers and their team representatives, combining this testimony with a review of a range of data including telemetry, team radio and onboard footage.
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They noted that Russell stated that “if a car was going slow in a high speed corner, it should not be on the racing line”, but they concluded that the case was “a complicated one” and did not warrant the usual three-place grid penalty as neither driver was on a push lap.
The document said: “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.”
Verstappen will thereby start the Qatar Grand Prix from second place on the grid, gifting the advantage of pole position to the Mercedes driver ahead of the 57-lap race.
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