Verstappen summoned to Qatar stewards after controversial qualifying incident

Verstappen was called before the Qatar stewards following a contentious qualifying incident.

After winning the pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix, Max Verstappen was contacted by the stewards.

After qualifying, Verstappen was asked to see the stewards after a collision with Carlos Sainz, who had also been called in.
The F1 stewards had their hands full.

Carlos Sainz of Ferrari and Max Verstappen had a close call in Q2, which prompted a thorough investigation into the latter’s “erratic driving.”.

Verstappen expressed his anger over the team radio after the incident, which left him feeling very unsatisfied.

Stewards are investigating the Sainz incident.

The Dutchman exclaimed, “What the hell is that man doing?”.
I nearly hit him, but he’s defending, did you see that?”.

Sainz should receive a warning and no further action, according to the investigation’s findings.

The stewards noted that “Car 1 [Verstappen] was on an out lap while Car 55 [Sainz] was on a cool-down lap.”.
“When Car 1 overtook Car 55 and attempted to pass, the driver of Car 55 defended his position and did so in a way that was reasonably unpredictable for the pursuing car.

The driver of Car 55 testified during the hearing that he needed to stay under the maximum lap time between SC lines 2 and 1 and couldn’t afford to be passed by another vehicle.

“While the Stewards and the driver of Car 1 both accepted this, the actions taken by Car 55 were thought to be unnecessary given that the incident occurred in qualifying and cars aren’t supposed to race each other while getting ready for flying laps.
“.

Verstappen is in a good position to win his third F1 championship in Qatar; all he needs are three points from either the Sprint on Saturday or the race on Sunday.

Additionally, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who will start third on Sunday, is being looked into for disobeying the race director’s instructions.

The stewards will investigate whether he had a good reason for deviating from the minimum lap time established to ease track congestion.