F1 stewards make Verstappen penalty call after Qatar GP 'erratic driving' probe
Max Verstappen kept his pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix after surviving an investigation into a near-miss involving Carlos Sainz.
The two racers came close to colliding during qualifying on Friday night. Both appeared to be jostling for track position while not on hot laps when they got a little close for comfort, the front wing of Verstappen's Red Bull narrowly avoiding the back of the Ferrari.
Fortunately, they didn't make contact and so picked up no damage. But the race director took a dim view of the situation and referred the incident to the stewards, who investigated the matter after the session.
Both Verstappen and Sainz were told to meet with the stewards at 10pm local time to explain themselves. They were both later pictured leaving the race control tower engaged in pleasant conversation and bid goodnight to each other warmly.
The stewards have now confirmed that no sporting punishment has been given to either driver for the incident. Sainz was issued a warning by the stewards, confirmed by an FIA official document.
Sebastian Vettel warns of looming F1 ban and is "very worried about the future"
It read: "Car 55 [Sainz] was on a cool-down lap while Car 1 [Verstappen] was on a out lap. When Car 1 caught up on Car 55 and tried to pass, the driver of Car 55 defended his position and did that in a manner that was reasonably unpredictable for the pursuing car. During the hearing the driver of Car 55 stated that he could not afford being passed by another car as he had to stay below the maximum lap time between SC lines 2 and 1.
"Whilst this was accepted by the Stewards as well as by the driver of Car 1, the measures taken by Car 55 were deemed to be unnecessary given the fact that the incident happened in qualifying and cars are not supposed to directly race each other while preparing for flying laps. The Stewards determine that a warning is appropriate on this occasion given the circumstances.
It means Verstappen remains on pole for Sunday's Grand Prix. "The tarmac didn't give a lot of grip, so it was really building up to it lap after lap. I think we were in a good window, we were improving quite nicely, run after run," he said after the session.
"Especially run one in Q3, the car felt quite good, it felt like a good lap, but it was also really on the edge of knowing what is the limit at the moment with the track surface. So it made it quite tough, but overall, very happy with the performance, and the day."
Verstappen most likely won't even need to wait until Sunday to complete his main task for the weekend, though. Just three points from Saturday's Sprint race will be enough for the Dutchman to mathematically seal the 2023 drivers' title which he is already all-but assured.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
