Hours after the timing of the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix, Max Verstappen lost his pole position. The Dutchman of Red Bull

he received a penalty.

The four-time world champion put George Russell in a dangerous situation in Q3 by driving unreasonably slowly, while the Briton from Mercedes came behind him at a fast pace, although he did not measure laps. The stipulation that Russell was not on a measured lap is important, as this is one of the reasons why Verstappen was penalized with only one position back, instead of the three starting places usually awarded in similar cases.


From Russell’s side, they argued that Verstappen was driving at a slow pace on the race track, and that is not what a driver normally expects. In addition, Verstappen was even slower than the predetermined delta time, and he knew that the Briton was coming behind him, as he had looked in the mirror several times before.

The stewards also admitted that the case was complicated. Taking everything into account, the one-place penalty was born, which means a change of places on the grid between the two involved: Russell will start from the front on Sunday, and Verstappen from second place. By the way, the Dutchman also received a penalty point, increasing his balance to 6 – this will not decrease until June 2025.

As far as we can remember, the stewards last handed out a starting penalty in 2020, when they sanctioned an incident during free practice.