Verstappen On Penalty For Driving Unnecessarily Slowly: 'Makes No Sense'

Sunday, 01 December 2024 at 10:00

Max Verstappen seemed convinced that any sort of penalty wouldn't make sense as he was on his way to stewards after the 2024 Qatar GP qualifying.

Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen didn't have the best start to the sprint weekend in Qatar as his team couldn't find the right setup for sprint qualifying (P6) and the sprint race (P8).

However, the Austrian F1 team managed to turn the whole car around before qualifying, and with the right tool in his hands, Verstappen returned to pole position.

The Dutchman hasn't started the Grand Prix race from P1 since the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix - 12 race weekends ago, and unfortunately, he will prolong this series after receiving a one-place grid penalty for an incident with George Russell.

The 27-year-old was summoned to the stewards after the qualifying session in order to investigate an incident with George Russell where he was "driving unnecessarily slowly."

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Speaking to the media before going to the stewards, Verstappen asserted any sort of penalty wouldn't make sense at all in this case:

"If they take this away, then, of course, it doesn't make any sense at all. We were all just driving slowly. I wouldn't know what I could have done differently. The fact that I have to go there is already very strange to me."

"Otherwise, next time I'll just drive full throttle too and pretend I'm crashing everywhere. Then George should have just braked. I'm braking too, aren't I?"

The stewards noted that the four-time World Champion was "well outside" his delta time which was part of the reason why Verstappen received a one-place grid penalty.

On the other hand, the Red Bull Racing F1 driver argued that he had multiple very slow cars ahead of him and had nowhere to push. He told Viaplay

"Of course, you have to stick to your delta, but at some point, you can't when the drivers in front of you are driving slowly."

"You don't want to screw anybody. I don't feel like doing that at all at the end of the season, so I stayed right behind. And he came flaming past at full throttle."