Max Verstappen takes shot at F1 stewards with “investigated straight away” jibe
"And I know that, of course, if I wouldn't have lifted, it would have been investigated straight away."
Max Verstappen has claimed he “would have been investigated straight away” if he committed the same offence Lando Norris did in the F1 Qatar Grand Prix.
During the middle of the Qatar GP, Verstappen noticed that Norris had significantly gained time down the start-finish straight when double-waved yellow flags were out.
Verstappen reported over team radio: “Check if he lifted for the yellow. There was a yellow in the middle of the straight.”
His race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase quickly confirmed that Norris hadn’t lifted.
It was soon investigated by the F1 stewards and Norris was hit with a hefty 10-second stop-go penalty.
The penalty dropped Norris to the back of the field before finishing 10th.
Speaking in the FIA press conference after the race on Sunday, Verstappen felt that if he had been speeding under yellow flags - like Norris did - it would have been investigated without any intervention from a fellow driver.
“Well, I mean, I knew that I lifted because I saw the double yellow,” he said. “And I know that, of course, if I wouldn't have lifted, it would have been investigated straight away. So you're just on it. I mean, yeah, I asked if he lifted because he had a DRS, I think, from a backmarker at the same time as well.
And then, of course, when we came out of Turn 1, I saw that he was a lot closer.
“So I just asked the team to check it. I mean, it was just a normal question. And I know, of course, with double yellows, they're quite strict.”
Verstappen left frustrated in Qatar
While Verstappen clinched his ninth F1 victory of the season - and his first dry weather win since the Spanish Grand Prix - he was still left frustrated by Mercedes’ George Russell.
Verstappen was handed a one-place grid penalty after qualifying after the stewards felt he had been driving unnecessarily slow in Q3, while also getting in the way of Russell.
The penalty for Verstappen was peculiar given that driving too slowly in qualifying is rarely punished, plus Russell, who he had ‘impeded’, wasn’t even on a flying lap.
Verstappen was also irked by Russell’s behaviour in the stewards’ room.
The four-time world champion said he had “lost all respect” for Russell after the British driver pushed for Verstappen to receive a penalty.
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
