Verstappen says he ‘lost all respect’ for George Russell after penalty in F1 qualifying
LUSAIL, Dec 2: From a smashed mirror and crashes to unusually severe penalties, there were plenty of hazards at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen steered clear of them all to follow up his Formula 1 drivers’ title with his ninth win of the year on Sunday.
Lando Norris, Verstappen’s closest title rival until he secured the championship last week in Las Vegas, was trying to overtake the Dutch driver for the lead until he was dropped to the back of the field by a penalty for failing to slow for yellow warning flags.
Verstappen, who secured his fourth consecutive title in Las Vegas last week, has won two of the last three races but hadn’t won in dry conditions since June.
“It was a lot of fun out there,” Verstappen said.
“Very happy. It’s been a while in the dry to be this competitive. Very proud of everyone within the team.” Verstappen disposed of another rival off the line, beating George Russell into the first corner. The Mercedes driver had been elevated to pole position in Verstappen’s place after a contentious dispute in qualifying that got Verstappen a one-place penalty for driving too slowly.
Charles Leclerc finished second for Ferrari and Norris’ McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri was third.
Penalties spark debate
In a season of controversy over the rules and upheaval at the governing body, the stewards again played a crucial role. Norris had been chasing down Verstappen for the lead before his penalty. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said Norris hadn’t slowed down but argued the penalty was disproportionately harsh. The stewards were busy, issuing a wide range of penalties for offenses like causing collisions, but also two for Lewis Hamilton for a false start and pit-lane speeding, and one for Russell, who was judged to have dropped too far back in a safety car period. Russell said later he didn’t know “when or how or why” he’d been penalized.
The safety car came out three times, first for crashes at the back of the pack on the opening lap, then for debris from a smashed mirror, and again when Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas ended up in the gravel.
Constructors’ title fight
At one stage, it looked like McLaren could seal its first constructors’ title since 1998 in Qatar as Norris and Piastri both eyed podium places.
After Norris’ penalty, Ferrari cut McLaren’s lead from 30 points to 21 with Leclerc’s second place and a solid sixth for Carlos Sainz Jr. after a puncture seemed to have wrecked his race. The constructors’ title will now be decided at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi next week.
‘Lost all respect’
Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen said Sunday he “lost all respect” for Mercedes driver George Russell after an incident between them in qualifying cost him pole position on the grid for the Qatar Grand Prix.
Verstappen was .055 of a second faster than Russell in Saturday’s qualifying but a stewards’ inquiry gave him a one-place penalty for driving “unnecessarily slowly” in an incident with Russell, who moved up to first on the grid.
Russell complained over the radio that it was “super dangerous” that he’d had to avoid Verstappen ahead of him.
Both were summoned to a stewards’ inquiry and Verstappen was sharply critical Sunday of Russell’s approach to the incident.
“Honestly, very disappointing because I think we’re all here, we respect each other a lot and, of course, I’ve been in that (race stewards’) meeting room many times in my life, in my career, with people that have raced and I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard,” Verstappen said after Sunday’s race. “For me, I lost all respect.”
Verstappen suggested he’d been going slowly so as not to impede other drivers. “I think that’s the first time that in a slow lap someone has been penalized. While, actually, I just tried to be nice. So maybe I shouldn’t be nice,” he said.
The penalty had almost no impact on Sunday’s race as Verstappen overtook Russell into the first corner and went on to take his ninth win of a title-winning season.
“It was a pretty simple overtake for him, which was a bit frustrating for us,” Russell said. “We know Max is a fighter and is aggressive. I expect no different, and I really wanted to go out there and fight with him today.”(PTI)