#F1 #QatarGP Starting Grid – @Max33Verstappen hit with one-grid-placed penalty.

2024 Qatar Starting Grid – Here is your 2024 Qatar Grand Prix starting grid – Now four-time World Champion Max Verstappen lost his pole position starting spot after being hit with a one-grid-placed-penalty from the stewards following an incident with Mercedes’ George Russell during the final part of qualifying at the Qatar Grand Prix.

The Dutchman’s effort was good enough to claim his 41^st-career pole position and the first one since the 2024 Austrian GP, but the stewards opted to penalise him for driving unnecessarily slow in-front of the Mercedes.

The Red Bull driver was on an out-lap as he was preparing for his last flyer in the final qualifying stage with the Mercedes of Russell rapidly catching up to him.

In the end the Briton had to take evasive action through the gravel trap, which he later said could have affected his hot-lap.

Russell explained: “I ended up going through the gravel all over the floor, so it felt like the floor was scraping over that kerb and through the gravel, so I hope it didn’t damage it. Maybe that’s the reason we didn’t improve – I don’t know, but it was a bit of a hairy one, two corners before we started the lap.” Russell concluded, credit to F1 for the quote.

Verstappen went to see the stewards shortly after qualifying alongside Russell, with Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner defending the slow driving saying that everyone was “Jockeying and pushing for position.” On their out-laps.

The stewards stated in their document 49 ruling: ““Car 1 [Verstappen] was on a different preparation strategy to that of Car 63 [Russell]. Car 1 was well outside of the delta and the driver of Car 1 explained he had let Cars 4 and 14 past,” the Stewards’ verdict read. “The driver of Car 63 claimed that he had adhered to the delta and did not expect Car 1 to be on the racing line. He stated that if a car was going slow in a high speed corner, it should not be on the racing line. The Stewards regard this case as a complicated one in that clearly Car 1 did not comply with the Race Director’s Event Notes and clearly was driving, in our determination, unnecessarily slowly considering the circumstances. It was obvious the driver of Car 1 was attempting to cool his tyres. He also could see Car 63 approaching as he looked in his mirror multiple times whilst on the small straight between Turns 11 and 12.” Credit to FIA for the quote.

The stewards also stated “Unusually, this incident occurred when neither car was on a push lap. Had Car 63 been on a push lap, the penalty would have most likely been the usual 3 grid position penalty, however in mitigation of penalty, it was obvious that the driver of Car 63 had clear visibility of Car 1 and that neither car was on a push lap.” Credit to FIA for the quote.

Formula 1 Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix 2024 Starting Grid

2024 F1 World Championship Standings

#F1 #QatarGP #Qualifying: @Max33Verstappen pips @GeorgeRussell63 to pole by 0.055s.