Red Bull Racing Dutch Max Verstappen will start from P1 in the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday following the stewards decided not to give him a grid drop for his incident with the McLaren of Lando Norris during qualifying at the Suzuka circuit.
The world champion received just a reprimand despite almost causing a crash with Lando Norris, who had to go onto the grass in order to avoid the collision as the two drivers met on-track in the first Q3 runs. Max Verstappen was investigated by the stewards after the qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix, having to explain why he moved towards the McLaren car at the exit of the fast 130R corner as Norris attempted to overtake him.
Lando Norris pointed out that Max Verstappen’s move was intentional in order to discourage him from passing so that the Red Bull car could keep track position as he started his next fast lap. The Dutchman argued that his move was not deliberate and that he just lost traction due to the cold tyres as he was attempting to generate heat into them before starting his flying lap.
After discussing with both drivers involved, the stewards decided to give the Red Bull man just a reprimand for the near-miss, considering it not to have been a deliberate action in reaction to Lando Norris trying to overtake him.
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“The driver of car one [Verstappen] was aware of car 55 [Carlos Sainz Jnr] in front and car four [Norris] approaching from behind and decided to accelerate at precisely the same time as car four decided to overtake car one. Unfortunately, due to lack of tyre temperature on car one, the driver temporarily lost control of the car causing it to ‘snap’ anti-clockwise. “The driver of car four stated that this was simply an unfortunate incident, however it is the driver’s responsibility to at all times maintain control of their car,” the stewards continued – “Regarding penalty, all previous breaches of this nature have resulted in a reprimand hence a similar penalty is imposed in this case.”
Max Verstappen will therefore start the Japanese Grand Prix from P1, ahead of the F1-75 of Charles Leclerc and his Maranello teammate Carlos Sainz, who will start from P3 at Suzuka.
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