By:
James Newbold, Sam Hall
Verstappen therefore will start second for his first Grand Prix since being crowned a four-time world champion last time out in Las Vegas. But even that represents a huge improvement on what anybody who observed his comments to Viaplay after placing eighth in the sprint race might have thought possible. “I just had no grip, the balance is terrible,” he said. “On cold tyres you suffer even more from that. It felt like a rally car.”
The Red Bull driver had just taken his first pole position since the Austrian Grand Prix in June, but was hauled up before the stewards for driving unnecessarily slowly during a prep lap in Q3 while trying to cool his tyres. Russell was forced to take evading action, and the stewards took a dim view. Our own Stuart Codling and Jonathan Noble delve into what transpired in the video below.
Watch: Why Verstappen lost his pole start at the Qatar GP
George Russell will line up on pole for the second weekend in a row, but he didn’t actually qualify fastest yesterday. He was pipped to the best time in Q3 by just 0.055s, but was elevated from second on the grid by a one-place grid penalty for Max Verstappen.
Hello and welcome to Autosport’s live text coverage of the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix. We’re just 40 minutes out from the start of the penultimate race of the season, and there’s plenty to dig into. Without further ado, let’s begin.
Leave feedback about this