Sanctioned by the stewards, Verstappen loses his pole in Mexico

Perhaps it would have been better to say nothing... Author of a very good pole position at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Max Verstappen was stripped of it a few hours later. 

The reason ? The pilot Red Bull did not slow down during his final flying lap in Q3, even though Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes), in front of him on the track, had violently exited at the last turn and the yellow flag was waved in the sector. 

“It is very disappointing… but we have a really good race because so it should be a close fight”

Max Verstappen will start from P4 instead of pole after his grid penalty for ignoring yellow flags in #MexicoGP qualifying

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 27, 2019

During the press conference which followed the session, Verstappen did not hide it and made comments that were clumsy to say the least. Asked why he had not slowed down, the Dutchman was true to his bravado style and asked for his last lap to be erased, knowing that his first in Q3 was in any case sufficient to retain pole. . 

When we contacted him to tell him that his attitude perhaps represented a safety risk, Verstappen then became annoyed. “ Really, do you want to play it safe? he almost choked. We know what we're doing, otherwise we wouldn't be a Formula 1 driver. And then it's qualifying, you give it your all at that moment ». 

Summoned by the commissioners immediately, the Batavian was unable to avoid the sanction and was stripped of his second career pole. 

Here is an excerpt from their report:

« The driver of car No. 33 (Verstappen) admitted that he knew that the driver of car No. 77 (Bottas) had suffered an accident and had seen the damaged car on the left side of the track, but he had not didn't notice the yellow flag being waved. He also admitted not having taken his foot off the gas. The stewards noted that the yellow flag in question was indeed visible on the images from the on-board camera of car No. 33. The flag was shown quickly enough and the previous driver, that of car No. 5 (Hag) reduced its speed significantly. In view of the available evidence and the comments of the person concerned, the stewards decided to impose a sanction of 3 places on the grid and 2 points on the FIA ​​license ».

Verstappen's penalty allows Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, and Charles Leclerc to gain a place on the grid, the Monegasque being promoted to pole position.