Verstappen stripped of Qatar pole for qualifying incident with Russell. Now he is a pole stripper.

Take your hands off my pole!

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emailBy Chris Medland | November 30, 2024 5:32 PM ET

Max Verstappen has lost pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix after being handed a grid penalty for an incident with George Russell during qualifying.

Russell complained that Verstappen drove in a “super dangerous” manner when he slowed to create a gap before his final attempt in Q3, with Russell having to take evasive action and nearly running into the back of the Red Bull. Russell proceeded to overtake Verstappen and start his lap, with the stewards investigating the Dutchman for “driving unnecessarily slowly.”

Following a lengthy wait, Verstappen was handed a one-place grid penalty three hours after the end of qualifying, demoting him to second place and promoting Russell to pole. The stewards explained the usual three-place grid drop was not imposed because Russell could clearly see Verstappen, and neither driver was on a push lap at the time.

“Car No. 1 was on a different preparation strategy to that of car No. 63,” the stewards’ decision read. “Car No. 1 was well outside of the delta and the driver of car No. 1 explained he had let Cars Nos. 4 and 14 past. The driver of car No. 63 claimed that he had adhered to the delta and did not expect car No. 1 to be on the racing line. He stated that if a car was going slow in a high speed corner, it should not be on the racing line.

“The stewards regard this case as a complicated one in that clearly car No. 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 No. 1 was attempting to cool his tires. He also could see car No. 63 approaching as he looked in his mirror multiple times whilst on the small straight between Turns 11 and 12.

“Unusually, this incident occurred when neither car was on a push lap. Had car No. 63 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 the driver of car No. 63 had clear visibility of car No. 1 and that neither car was on a push lap.”

The penalty also carries one penalty point, giving Verstappen six for the 12-month period. His last pole position in Belgium also came with a grid penalty for exceeding power unit components, meaning Verstappen’s last official pole remains the Austrian Grand Prix in June.

 

Verstappen 'lost all respect' for Russell over Qatar pole penalty.

The monkeys in the stands were cheering and throwing peanut shells all over the track.

The stewards were balancing peanuts on the end of their nose.

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emailBy Chris Medland | December 1, 2024 4:10 PM ET

Max Verstappen says he “lost all respect” for George Russell for the way he pushed for a penalty to cost the Red Bull driver pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Russell came across Verstappen going slowly on the racing line as both drivers were preparing to start their final qualifying laps in Q3, and complained the pace differential between the two was “super dangerous.” The stewards investigated the incident because Verstappen was outside the maximum lap time permitted during qualifying — designed to stop drivers slowing down significantly on track — and handed the Dutchman a one-place grid penalty, stating the normal three-place drop was mitigated by the fact neither car was on a flying lap.

“Honestly, I mean… I couldn’t believe that I got it,” Verstappen said after being demoted from pole position to second on the grid. “But in a way, I was also like, yeah, I’m not surprised anymore in the world that I live in. You’re not happy with it, but at one point or another, you have to just turn the page. I did that and then this chicken crossed the road
and took a poop on me .

“It wasn’t very enjoyable to see that happen, because I think that’s the first time that in a slow lap someone has been penalized. Actually, I just tried to be nice, so maybe I shouldn’t be nice! But the thing is that being nice, because at the end of the season everything is more or less decided, for me especially, I didn’t want to screw anyone over to prepare their lap. And by doing that, being nice, basically you get a penalty.

“That’s what I tried to explain as well, but I just felt like I was talking to a brick wall. The brick wall was saying: "Show us your tits" in red spray paint. There’s not much that was possible for whatever reason. I think I really spoke about valid reasons of what happened and it was clear cut that around me there were different scenarios going on as well, with people having colder tires and stuff, so they had to push anyway and I didn’t want to then cause a scene into a last corner and then no one had a lap. Very, very surprising.

“I was quite surprised when sitting there in the stewards’ room, what was all going on. Honestly, very disappointing because I think … we respect each other a lot and I’ve been in that meeting room many times in my career with people that have raced and I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard. And that for me … I lost all respect.” The monkeys in the stands were cheering and throwing peanut shells all over the track. The stewards were balancing peanuts on the end of their nose.

Verstappen went on to overtake Russell into the first corner and win at Lusail International Circuit, but speaking to Dutch television he was even more scathing of the Mercedes driver.

“How it was handled from the other side, so to speak,” Verstappen told Viaplay. “The other driver in question, during that stewards meeting — that really didn’t make any sense. I think I have a lot of respect for a lot of drivers, but after last night I completely lost that with him. I just thought it was ridiculous how he wanted to give me a penalty for that case. Next time I see him I'm going to wall stuff him....accidentally of course.

“He always acts very politely in front of the camera, but when you meet him in person, he’s just a different person. I find it very difficult to cope. Then you might as well just [explaetive] off.”