Max Verstappen penalized, George Russell finally on pole in Qatar

No 9th pole position of the season for Max Verstappen in Qatar. The Dutchman, who had secured his first pole since the Austrian Grand Prix on June 29, was finally given a one-place grid penalty for the Grand Prix this Sunday. The cause? An obstruction of George Russell, in Q3, while both men were on slow laps. The Dutchman was in fact cooling his tires at low speed, while the Englishman was on a preparation lap, with more pace.

"The driver of car #63 stated that he had respected the delta and that he did not expect car 1 to be on the racing line, we read in the official document. He said that if a car was going slowly around a corner at high speed it should not be on the racing line. The stewards consider this case to be complicated because it is clear that car 1 did not follow the instructions given by the clerk of the course and was driving unnecessarily slowly in the circumstances. 

It was also stated that Max Verstappen had repeatedly looked in his mirrors between turns 11 and 12, where the interference took place. But how then to explain this penalty of a grid place, a fairly unusual rate in these kinds of circumstances? “Had car 63 been pushing the lap the penalty would most likely have been the usual 3 grid place penalty, but in mitigation of the penalty it was clear that the driver of car 63 had good visibility of car 1 and neither car was pushing the lap.”

George Russell therefore inherits pole position for the Grand Prix, and will start ahead of four-time world champion Max Verstappen, who will be keen to take back the lead from the first corner. After his pole-victory double in Las Vegas, can the Briton do it again in Losail? In any case, he has secured the fifth pole of his career and the fourth of the season. He will especially try to get a 4th career success after Brazil 2022, Austria 2024 and Las Vegas 2024.

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