Max Verstappen’s top-class qualifying performance in Qatar to take the pole went in vain, as the stewards penalized him with a one-place grid drop for driving “unnecessarily slowly”. The said incident was on the final runs in Q3 as George Russell was the affected driver with Verstappen ahead of him.
The Dutchman felt that this was quite “ridiculous” and expressed his thoughts quite candidly.
“I hope my penalty doesn’t set a precedent because it was ridiculous. I was doing my slow lap and I didn’t want to bother anyone, it wasn’t worth it as we were all qualifying. I tried to explain my point to the stewards but I hit a wall.”, he said as per Autoracer.
Verstappen highlighted there was no point in trying to reason with the stewards, as they did not consider his perspective. While the four-time world champion still took the lead and won the Grand Prix quite comfortably, he feared that what happened to him, could soon turn into a norm.
One-place grid penalties are not something out of the rule book. However, they are rare because they aren’t dished out in normal circumstances. In Qatar, it happened only because both Verstappen and Russell were on out-laps, and presumably because what happened only affected the Mercedes driver.
Max Verstappen is still unhappy with George Russell
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— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) December 1, 2024
What frustrated Verstappen further was how it was Russell who brought this matter up with the stewards. Given he wasn’t on a flying lap, the Dutchman escaped an impeding charge and the resultant three-place grid penalty. Still, he wasn’t happy with the Mercedes driver and reportedly had a bitter exchange with him before the Grand Prix.
Verstappen and Russell at loggerheads again
Verstappen was quite open about his disappointment with Russell complaining about his slow driving in Q3. When he got to know that the #63 driver raised the matter to the stewards, the Red Bull driver said that he “lost all respect” for him.
There were reports of animosity between Russell and Verstappen during the drivers’ parade at the Lusail International Circuit. Later on, he also reportedly made a sarcastic comment to the Briton, “You and your FIA mates, I hope you’re happy with what you’ve done,” as per Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz.
While there was no official confirmation about this, Team Principal Christian Horner did hint at such a conversation between Russell and Verstappen. Verstappen, after the race, also stated that the Mercedes driver appears all “nice” in front of the media but has a different side to him when one speaks to him in person.
The duo reportedly had a bitter exchange last season in Azerbaijan following their contact during the sprint race in Baku. However, they later reconciled and recently collaborated through the GPDA to take a firm stance against the FIA in response to Verstappen’s swearing incident.
