Formula 1 fans had almost made an escape from the Max Verstappen domination, even if for a few moments. The Red Bull driver was called by the stewards following his pole position Austrian GP Qualifying session. However, almost turned out to be too much as Verstappen was not penalized by the stewards and will get to start the race from the front.
Verstappen put in yet another sensational performance and pipped Charles Leclerc by 0.048 seconds to grab his fourth consecutive pole position. However, things got a bit spicy when he was summoned by the stewards after the race.
Verstappen is in the stewards room for allegedly impeding Magnussen#F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/zdhpHDlpag
— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthewCFB) June 30, 2023
Turns out that Verstappen had allegedly impeded Kevin Magnussen at turn 1 during his final run at the end of Q1. Fans started hoping against hope that the Dutchman would end up receiving a penalty, which would promote Leclerc to pole position. However, it wasn’t to be, as Verstappen emerged unharmed from the stewards’ room.
How did Max Verstappen evade the penalty?
The stewards put out a detailed explanation regarding their decision not to award Verstappen a penalty. The stewards claimed that an informed decision had been made after taking into account several factors like telemetry, positioning system data, onboard videos, etc.
Verstappen explained to the stewards that upon finishing his push lap, he noticed a car on his mirror and moved to the left after the exit of turn 1. Magnussen had originally claimed that due to the Red Bull being present on the left, he had to take a sharp turn right to avoid a collision. This had apparently caused him to lose precious lap time.
Read the stewards’ decision below: pic.twitter.com/Sua6CRKqz2
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) June 30, 2023
However, upon investigation, the stewards figured out that Magnussen had clipped the kerb on the inside of turn 1, which was the actual reason why he lost time during the lap. As for the Red Bull, video evidence showed that Magnussen did not have to take ‘significant evasive action.’
This meant that Verstappen was not at fault for Magnussen’s ruined lap as he had not impeded the Haas. This is the reason why Verstappen was not penalized by the stewards.
Drivers in trouble for impeding
The stewards have been especially consistent this season when handing out penalties to drivers for impeding during Qualifying. Some of the most noticeable ones include Charles Leclerc’s penalty in Monaco and Carlos Sainz’s penalty in Canada.
Leclerc was handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lando Norris during Qualifying and ruining his lap. This caused the Monegasque to start his home race from P6 instead of P3.
A closer look at the incident between Norris and Leclerc in the tunnel 👀#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/uxp1jIRhq1
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 27, 2023
Two races later, his teammate was punished with a three-place grid penalty when he impeded Pierre Gasly during Qualifying at the Canadian GP. The same session saw Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll also being handed three-place grid drops for impeding Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon respectively.
Pierre Gasly was absolutely furious with Sainz following this incident that saw him knocked out in Q1 🤬
The Spaniard has since been handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding the Alpine driver #CanadianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/dOn4MhkIDM
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 17, 2023
The only driver who recently avoided getting a penalty for impeding was Lewis Hamilton in Canada. He came too close to Lance Stroll at the hairpin in Canada but was let go without a penalty since both the drivers were on their outlaps.
Verstappen will look forward to capitalize on his pole position and extend his run of wins to five races in a row. However, before that he has to take care of the Sprint race on Saturday.
