For a few hours, it looked like Max Verstappen had ended his wait to claim pole position for the first time since the Austrian Grand Prix in June.
The last time he took pole position, Verstappen faced an anxious wait to learn whether the stewards would penalise him for driving unnecessarily slowly in the pit lane exit during qualifying. On that occasion they determined he hadn’t broken the rules and his pole position stood.
In Qatar, Verstappen again took pole position during the session but again found himself under investigation. This time the outcome was different. The stewards issued Verstappen a highly unusual, though not unprecedented, one-place grid drop for the incident.
When race control announced during qualifying that Verstappen was under investigation, they observed he failed to obey the maximum delta time in qualifying. Drivers have been noted for this infringement many times this year without receiving penalties – there were no fewer than 38 examples of this in Friday’s sprint race qualifying session alone.
The announcement of Verstappen’s penalty was met by a predictably unhinged reaction on social media from those who jumped to the conclusion he had been penalised for something other drivers routinely avoid penalties for. The stewards’ explanation demonstrates otherwise.
The first indication Verstappen was at serious risk of a penalty came when the stewards officially announced his investigation. This confirmed he was not under investigation for merely failing to observe the maximum delta time, but for “driving unnecessarily slowly”.
Verstappen has tested this area of the regulations more than other drivers over the course of the season. Prior to this weekend, almost no other alleged cases of “driving unnecessarily slowly” had been noted by the stewards this year, except for two involving the Red Bull driver.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
He was given a formal warning at the Monaco Grand Prix in May for slowing excessively at the end of the final practice session. Although the stewards confirmed he did not impede any other drivers, they observed “he travelled extremely slowly, at times at speeds as slow as 20kph” at a point on the track where cars typically pass by at 250kph all in an effort to ensure he would let time elapse so he could take the chequered flag.
Then came Austria, where Verstappen slowed significantly in the pit lane exit during qualifying. Again, the stewards confirmed he hadn’t held up any other drivers, and on this occasion decided not to penalise him.
But yesterday’s case was different because Verstappen did impede another driver, in this case George Russell, one of three cars which passed the Red Bull during that lap. Russell caught Verstappen at the apex of turn 11, was surprised by how slowly he was driving, and had to take avoiding action which he (inevitably) claimed impaired his preparation for his flying lap.
In yesterday’s qualifying session, the stewards took no action over 17 cases of drivers failing to obey the maximum delta time. In each case they noted “the drivers took appropriate actions to not impede other drivers, and in all cases, they slowed down significantly to allow other drivers to pass while giving those drivers a clear track.
“The stewards therefore determine that all drivers concerned did not drive ‘unnecessarily slowly’, and that they were above the maximum time because they took appropriate steps, and we therefore take no further action.”
The same was true for the 38 cases of the same involving 17 drivers in the sprint race qualifying session. Two other drivers, Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda, were reprimanded, though in their cases the stewards again noted “there is no evidence of any unsafe or disorderly conduct (such as unnecessary impeding).”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Verstappen, however, did impede another driver. What made his case unusual was that the driver attempting to pass him was not setting a flying lap at the time. However, as Russell noted afterwards, he was required to obey the same maximum delta time which Verstappen violated. Russell also “stated that if a car was going slow in a high speed corner, it should not be on the racing line,” the stewards noted.
The stewards took the fact Russell was not on a flying lap in mitigation when penalising Verstappen. “Had [Russell] 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 [Russell] had clear visibility of [Verstappen] and that neither car was on a push lap.”
What might have been a three-place grid drop was therefore reduced to one. This is unusual, but not unheard of. Verstappen’s team mate Sergio Perez was given the same penalty in Mugello four years ago, and Nico Hulkenberg copped the same four years before that.
The sporting regulations state the stewards may “drop the driver such number of grid positions as they consider appropriate” for infringements. While three- and five-place grid penalties are most common, one- and two-place penalties have been seen in the past. No doubt Verstappen will be infuriated by his penalty, but he should console himself with the realisation it could easily have been worse.
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and