F1 - Verstappen escapes penalty and maintains his pole position in Japan

Verstappen took his fifth pole of the 2022 course and achieved the ideal position to start on Sunday in search of mathematically sealing his second Formula 1 world championship. However, everything was up in the air when the champion had to visit the stewards along with a representative of the Red Bull team.

In the end, Verstappen only received a reprimand , for which he retains the top spot for the Japan exit. It is the first reprimand for the pilot this season.

In the first stages of the definitive Q3, the Dutchman was slowly rolling through the mythical curve 130R, ahead of Lando Norris, who was also preparing his next lap. Trying to warm up his tyres, the Dutchman gave the typical sprint but nearly lost control of the car and spun, forcing the faster arriving McLaren to dodge.

Norris had to hit the grass and some gravel to avoid the accident and, despite Verstappen’s anger on the radio, the stewards quickly announced that both drivers would have to report to them after the session to explain what had happened.

Thus, Max Verstappen was summoned to the commissioners at 5:00 p.m. in Japan (10:00 a.m. in Spain), as the other involved.

What did the stewards decide in Japan’s Verstappen-Norris incident?

“The stewards listened to the driver of car 1 (Max Verstappen), the driver of car 4 (Lando Norris) and the representatives of the teams and reviewed the video and timing evidence. The driver of car 1 was aware that the car 55 was ahead and car 4 was approaching from behind and decided to accelerate precisely at the same time that car 4 decided to overtake him Unfortunately, due to the lack of temperature in the tires of car 1, the driver temporarily lost control of the car, which which caused it to drift counterclockwise.

“The driver of car 4 stated that this was simply an unfortunate incident, but that it is nevertheless the responsibility of the driver to remain in control of his car at all times.”

“Regarding the sanction, all previous infractions of this nature have given rise to a reprimand (reprimand) so a similar sanction is imposed in this case.”

What did the drivers – Verstappen and Norris – say about their incident?

On that same lap of Q3 (a round after which Norris would be 10th and Verstappen poleman), both drivers went back to parallel, with an apologetic gesture from the energy drinker, who said: “Sorry, co-worker”.

Before his visit to the stewards room and after getting out of the car, both spoke about the incident. Norris said he expected Verstappen to take a grid penalty for what he did. For his part, and despite the fact that he had shown his regret on the circuit, the Red Bull man changed his speech and said during the press conference that it was really the Briton’s fault.

In the opinion of the #33 (who competes with the number #1 after his title last year), the McLaren driver should have complied with the gentlemen ‘s agreement of the drivers, who agreed not to overtake in the last corners before the start of a fastest lap in qualifying.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc congratulates Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen on taking pole