“As stewards, we are not here to inflict pain on drivers,” insisted the FIA’s chairman of Formula 1 stewards Garry Connelly after a rare meeting between the stewards and drivers in Qatar.
“We’re here to provide a level playing field. It’s not us against the drivers, it’s the drivers against the drivers and we’re here to make sure everyone gets a fair go.”
Noble and agreeable sentiments, sure. How long would harmony reign between those who race and those who must apply the rules of racing? Two days.
Max Verstappen’s one-place grid penalty for ‘driving unnecessarily slowly’ in front of George Russell at the end of Q3 was the latest contentious decision by the FIA’s appointed panel of stewards in a season filled with contentious decisions. That it just so happened to hand pole position to the driver he was accused of impeding only amplified Verstappen’s disgust.
So the newly-crowned world champion could only sit and stew as Russell was wheeled into ‘his’ pole position grid slot. The Mercedes driver looked to win on back-to-back grand prix Sundays, while Verstappen wanted to celebrate his fourth world title in style, and, more importantly, metaphorically stick it to Russell and the stewards at the same time.
Starting on the unfancied right side of the grid on the front row against a driver who held a perfect record of converting his poles into the lead on the opening lap, Verstappen would have a tough time getting ahead of the Mercedes at the start. But when the lights went out, the Red Bull jumped off the line as if powered by pure spite.
Russell failed to cut across to block Verstappen, who promptly claimed ownership of the inside line. Verstappen braked deeper than the Mercedes, easing Russell wider into the long right-hand opening turn than the Mercedes would have wanted, robbing him of a chance to come back to the inside of turn two. That left a McLaren-sized space to Verstappen’s inside that Lando Norris hastily filled, but despite being ahead for a matter of metres exiting the corner, Verstappen had the superior position heading into turn two and could sweep around it into the lead.
Russell fell to third ahead of Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz Jnr. Sergio Perez emerged from the midfield melee in seventh, with Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton behind. But before they could begin to settle into a rhythm, the Safety Car was deployed due to a first corner melee which had put Franco Colapinto and…
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