Teams and drivers using radio communications to push for rivals to get penalties has become a feature of modern Formula 1.
But seldom has it succeeded as spectacularly as it did for Red Bull and Max Verstappen in yesterday’s Qatar Grand Prix.
They felt they had been on the receiving end of a rival’s lobbying 24 hours earlier when Verstappen lost his pole position after being penalised for slowing in front of George Russell during qualifying. Verstappen dispensed with the threat from that rival on the first lap of the race and spent the opening stint with Lando Norris breathing down his neck.
So when Verstappen spotted an opportunity to put Norris under pressure, he seized it. Heading towards turn one on the 30th lap, Verstappen backed off when he saw marshals waving double yellow flags and told race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to check that Norris had done the same. Lambiase had just informed Verstappen that Norris was able to use DRS on that lap, as he lapped Valtteri Bottas’s Sauber:
| Lambiase | Info, I believe Lando has a free shot at DRS. Yep, Lando on DRS this straight. |
| Verstappen | Check if he lifted for the yellow. |
| Verstappen | There was a yellow in the middle of the straight. |
| Lambiase | Yep, there was, we’ll have a look, make sure he lifted. |
| Lambiase | Max if you see Safety Car or VSC you can pit. Otherwise, stay out. |
| Verstappen | Is there still a yellow or not? |
| Verstappen | Yep it’s still yellow. Stay on the racing line. |
“I lifted because I saw the double yellow,” Verstappen explained afterwards. “And I know that, of course, if I wouldn’t have lifted, it would have been investigated straight away. So you’re just on it.
“I asked if he lifted because he had a DRS, I think, from a backmarker at the same time as well. And then, of course, when we came out of turn one, I saw that he was a lot closer. So I just asked the team to check it. It was just a normal question and I know with double yellows, they’re quite strict.”
After reviewing the footage, Red Bull reported back to Verstappen:
| Lambiase | Lando did not lift, Max. |
| Verstappen | Report that, then. |
| Lambiase | Track is clear. And yes, we reported it, Max. Still no reply. |
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A short while afterwards, Lambiase and Verstappen reiterated what had happened:
| Lambiase | Just to be clear that was wide-open throttle, on DRS, to the braking zone at turn one. |
| Verstappen | Yeah there was double waved yellows there on that… |
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