Explained: Why Max Verstappen was penalized after the F1 Qatar GP qualifying
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen received a one-place grid penalty along with one penalty point to his FIA Superlicense at the end of the 2024 F1 Qatar Grand Prix qualifying. The Dutch driver surprised everyone by taking the pole position at the end of Q3 as he pipped the Mercedes driver George Russell by a mere 0.055s.
It was a remarkable turnaround for the newly crowned four-time F1 world champion after he finished P8 in the Sprint race earlier on Saturday but made some changes to his RB20 to get his ninth pole position of the season.
However, during his cooldown lap, Max Verstappen had seemingly blocked Russell in the final sector, which pushed the Brit to take avoiding action. The FIA found the Red Bull driver guilty of blocking Russell and going unnecessarily slowly.
In his post-quali press conference, the 27-year-old spoke of the incident with Russell and said:
"Yeah, there were two cars in front of me also making a gap, so I had to make a gap. And I knew that everyone was on a slow lap, not on a push lap. Yeah. And then I think George got excited. He wanted to pass and get around. That's fine. I mean, everyone, of course, tries to get their position, you know, to have the best possible start to the lap."
However, in their decision, the FIA believed that Verstappen did not follow the delta time given in the Race Director's notes before the session. They also explained that had the Mercedes driver been on a push lap, the penalty would have been severe.
Max Verstappen gives his take on the turnaround leading to his pole position
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen stated that they as a team decided to go in a direction and the result seemed to pay the dividends in the qualifying session.
He told the media:
"Well, I mean, it couldn't have been worse. So we just looked at it. And I mean, it's not all super clear, but we're like, well, we have to go and try this direction. We put it on the car and it worked. And of course, you know, a lot of people back at the factory analyzing a lot of stuff already throughout the whole weekend.
"But at the end of the day, yeah, you have to make the decisions also on track if you want to do it or not. The simulator is running in the background as well. And yeah, a miracle happened!"
After his grid penalty, Max Verstappen would start the race from P2 and on the dirtier side of the track, as all the grip lies on the odd-numbered grid slots. He now has eight penalty points on his FIA super license but is unlikely to face a race ban given the margin of four points.