Max Verstappen handed grid penalty as George Russell gets pole position for Qatar GP

Red Bull driver penalised for impeding Mercedes' Russell during qualifying

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, right, lost his pole position for the Qatar GP to George Russell of Mercedes. Getty Images

Newly-crowned world champion Max Verstappen was stripped of pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix for impeding Mercedes driver George Russell in qualifying on Saturday.

Red Bull's Verstappen was given a one-place grid penalty for blocking Russell with the British driver starting on pole instead of the Dutchman.

Hours after Verstappen claimed his first pole position for five months, a one-place penalty was imposed for driving unnecessarily slowly, a manouevre that pushed Russell into the gravel.

The Red Bull driver clocked the fastest lap in one minute and 20.520 seconds and Russell was originally second for Mercedes just 0.055 seconds adrift.

However, the British driver complained immediately about the champion's session.

"Super-dangerous by Verstappen," said the Mercedes driver.

"I ended up going through the gravel and all over the floor it felt like it was scraping," said Russell.

McLaren's Lando Norris remains third while sprint-race winner Oscar Piastri of McLaren was fourth with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on the third row along with Lewis Hamilton in sixth for Sunday's Grand Prix.

Stewards said the case was complicated but agreed that Verstappen, who clinched his fourth title in a row in Las Vegas last weekend, was going too slow on a cool down lap when Russell suddenly came up behind him.

Speaking before the stewards' verdict, Russell said he believed Verstappen's tactics cost him outright pole.

"I had a really scrappy out lap with the near collision with Max and I ended up going through the gravel two corners prior to opening my lap," said the British driver. "It was not a good start to the lap, so that was probably the 55 milliseconds.

"I hope it didn't damage the car, but maybe that's the reason why we didn't improve, I don't know. It was a bit of a hairy one, two corners before we start the lap."

Verstappen said: "There were two cars in front of me also making a gap, so I had to make a gap. And I knew that everyone was on a slow lap, not on a push lap.

"George got excited. He wanted to pass and get around. That's fine. I mean everyone, of course, tries to get their position, you know, to have the best possible start to the lap."

Meanwhile, Norris ignored team orders and handed his McLaren teammate Piastri the sprint race in Qatar.

With McLaren eyeing its first F1 constructors' title in 26 years and Russell close behind for Mercedes, Norris was told by the team over the radio to “finish in this order,” ahead of Piastri.

He chose to gift his teammate the win anyway, easing off to the right on the exit of the final corner and then swooping back across in front of Russell, who finished third.

“The team told me not to do it, but I thought I could get away with it and we did,” Norris said. "Honestly, I don’t mind. I’m not here to win sprint races. I’m here to win races and the championship, but that’s not gone to plan."

Norris was paying Piastri back for doing the same in the sprint race in Brazil when Norris was still fighting Verstappen for the drivers’ title.

“I made my mind up in Brazil when it happened,” Norris said. “I needed to do something to give it back.”

Piastri said he hadn't expected Norris to take the risk.

“I was aware it could happen. I was a bit surprised that with George half a second (away) it did,” Piastri said. “It just shows off our teamwork and the lack of egos within the team.”