Big Blow For Max Verstappen Ahead Of Qatar GP!

Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen has just been slapped with a five-place grid penalty right ahead of the 2021 Qatar GP, the first ever Formula 1 race in the destination known famously for MotoGP races. The penalty handed to Max Verstappen is in lines with the Dutch driver’s failure at slowing down despite the waving of the double yellow flags. The incident occurring in the crucial moments of qualifying on Saturday wherein Pierre Gasly’s car suffered a massive tire puncture, the Frenchman going over the kerbs after hitting a high-speed corner, resulting in giving the quali of the Qatar GP a very scary moment.

This also then means that Max Verstappen, still the championship leader of 2021, suffers a situation where beating Lewis Hamilton, also the winner at Brazil, will now become difficult.

So how’s that?

Lewis Hamilton drove to a sensational qualifying lap wherein the Mercedes was able to bag the first ever pole for an F1 race at Qatar. This, in turn, boosted his chances for the forthcoming race that’s soon to begin. In the last few races, Hamilton has stunned one and all having bounced back to great form after being defeated by a marauding Max Verstappen, who won consecutive races at Mexico and Turkey.

The above told, the following is how F1’s official website described the incident involving Max Verstappen that highlights his guilt for which he has been offered a 5-place grid penalty right ahead of the 2021 Qatar GP.

How did Max Verstappen earn the penalty?

Verstappen crossed the line and improved his time by around two tenths of a second, but it was not enough to dislodge Hamilton from pole, with the Dutchman remaining in P2.

What’s happened, therefore, is nothing less than a blow to the chances of the Red Bull team ahead of the sport’s maiden Qatar F1 race. It’s a contest, mind you, where the other driver in a Red Bull, Sergio Perez, is beginning from eleventh, having not been able to manage a strong Q3 on Saturday.

Meanwhile, having said that, the following is what F1.com had to say on the issue pertaining to Max Verstappen, the season’s current championship leader:

But some three hours after qualifying, Verstappen was issued a summons from the stewards for allegedly “not respecting double waved yellow flags”, and he went to see them at 1pm local time in Qatar on Sunday.

Their statement said: “notwithstanding the fact the team argued that the turning off of the yellow sector on the FIA marshalling system some 34 second prior to the driver reaching the yellow flag, signified that it was ‘play on’, it was the driver’s responsibility to take the appropriate action when entering what was a double yellow flag area.

“The driver acknowledged his awareness of the presence of Car 10 on the right side of the track. Having seen a disabled car, it is reasonable to expect, as was the case of the driver of Car 55 [Carlos Sainz], that there was a potential danger and that a yellow flag situation probably existed and therefore to take the appropriate action (i.e. to reduce speed).”

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