Verstappen is punished for slowness and loses pole position to Russell at the Qatar GP

After the Austrian GP in June, he ended up being punished by the stewards of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) in one position and will start second in this Sunday (1st), at 1 pm (Brasília time), the penultimate of the season. Thus, George Russell, from Mercedes, inherits the position of honor on the starting grid, with the Dutchman next to him on the front row. There were no changes to the rest of the grid. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri start on the second row with the aim of leading McLaren to the Constructors’ World Championship title for the first time in 26 years.

With his fourth Drivers’ World Championship secured since the race in Las Vegas (USA), last week, the Dutchman lost the lead on the grid for driving his Red Bull “unnecessarily slowly” at the end of Q3 of this qualifying session. Saturday, hindering the British driver, who was already leading the race, but was trying to improve his time.

Russell complained on the radio about what he considered “dangerous” conduct from Verstappen, who was in front of him and trying to cool the tires while preparing for his fast lap. With the clock running to zero, the Red Bull driver managed to overtake Russell in just 0s055, taking first place.

Hours after training, after listening to explanations from the two drivers and representatives from Red Bull and Mercedes, the stewards considered that Verstappen “did not follow the race director’s instructions and clearly drove very slowly, considering the circumstances”.

“It was obvious that car 1 (Verstappen’s) was trying to cool its tires and he could see car 63 (Russell’s) approaching because he looked in the mirror many times on the short straight between turns 11 and 12,” the FIA ​​said. in note. Although the infraction normally causes the loss of three positions on the grid, the entity justified the inversion of cars in the front row because no driver was trying to set a fast lap at the time of the incident.

Check out the starting grid for the Qatar GP:

1º – George Russell (ING/Mercedes), 1min20s575

2º – Max Verstappen (HOL/Red Bull), 1min20s520

3º – Lando Norris (ING/McLaren), 1min20s772

4th – Oscar Piastri (AUS/McLaren), 1min20s829

5th – Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari), 1min20s852

6º – Lewis Hamilton (ING/Mercedes), 1min21s011

7th – Carlos Sainz (ESP/Ferrari), 1min21s041

8º – Fernando Alonso (ESP/Aston Martin), 1min21s251

9th – Sérgio Perez (MEX/Red Bull), 1min21s425

10º – Kevin Magnussen (DIN/Haas), 1min21s500

11th – Pierre Gasly (FRA/Alpine), 1min21s4

12º – Ghuanyu Zhou (CHN/Kick Sauber), 1min21s501

13º – Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Kick Sauber), 1min21s731

14º – Yuki Tsunoda (JAP/RB), 1m21s771

15º – Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin), 1min21s911

16th – Alexander Albon (TAI/Williams), 1min22s390

17º – Liam Lawson (NEO/RB), 1min22s411

18º – Nico Hulkenberg (ALE/Haas), 1min22s442

19º – Franco Colapinto (ARG/Williams), 1min22s594

20th – Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine), 1min22s7