Max Verstappen has been given a five-place grid penalty for the Qatar Grand Prix for failing to slow sufficiently for double waved yellow flags.
The stewards have also given a three-place penalty to Valtteri Bottas, who passed single waved yellow warning flags.The stewards also cleared Carlos Sainz Jnr after investigating the Ferrari driver for a similar infraction.
Bottas was shown a single waved yellow flag as he approached the start/finish line at the end of his final flying lap in Q3, due to Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri which was stopped beside the pit wall. The stewards said the Mercedes driver “admitted he did not notice the yellow flag displayed at flag point 16.6 and conceded that he did not reduce speed as required in the yellow flag area despite noting that car 10 [Gasly] was stationary on the pit straight,” the stewards noted.
The penalties for Verstappen and Bottas will promote Gasly, who originally qualified fourth, to the front row of the grid for today’s race.
Red Bull requested the stewards issue a less severe penalty to Verstappen in light of the fact that, while double waved yellow flags were visible, the driver was not shown any warning lights and the team did not advise him on the situation. However the stewards noted it was Verstappen’s responsibility to react to signals on the track, and pointed out he was able to see Gasly’s stationary car.
“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 [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).”
Sainz avoided a penalty because, having initially failed to slow for the yellow flags, he did once he noticed Gasly’s car at the edge of the track.
“The driver stated that although he did not see the yellow flag, he did see that car 10 was stationary on the right of the pit straight and therefore assumed that there was the probability that he was in a yellow flag area, so made a significant reduction in speed in the relevant mini-sector.”
The stewards noted precedents exist for penalising infringements of double waved yellow flags more severely than single yellow flags, including Lewis Hamilton’s three-place penalty at the Red Bull Ring last year, and Sebastian Vettel’s five-place drop in Bahrain this year.
Updated: 2021 Qatar Grand Prix grid
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S
21st November 2021, 12:24
Same for Verstappen, then?
DaveW (@dmw)
21st November 2021, 12:25
Has to be more since verstappen had double yellows showing?
S
21st November 2021, 12:26
Should, but this is F1…
S
21st November 2021, 12:33
Ah, well there you go. Verstappen gets 5.
I’m actually quite surprised that F1 have applied some common sense to their application of the rules this time.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
21st November 2021, 12:59
Poor Pierre getting relegated to the dirty side of the grid.
Debra
21st November 2021, 13:09
He was already on the dirty side.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
21st November 2021, 13:43
I think gasly was very lucky. making a mistake and breaking his car (ok the 2nd bit was a bit unlucky, but he caused it to happen) . As a result, his actions of deciding to park his car after his mistake then resulted in this happening. Effectively his mistake and judgement has resulted in him moving up 2 places.
Davey
21st November 2021, 13:13
He got it now!
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
21st November 2021, 12:27
So single yellow – 3 positions, surely it must mean 5 places for Max and Sainz for double.
Ben
21st November 2021, 12:27
And nothing for Max? Wow, this guy.
Ben
21st November 2021, 12:32
The news has just dropped and title or the article changed before anyone calls me an idiot :)
Mashiat (@mashiat)
21st November 2021, 12:36
You wanna talk now?
Fab
21st November 2021, 13:06
5 places penalty, nothing ?
Ah !
well, maybe you’ve missed something …
Davey
21st November 2021, 12:52
There was SOMETHING.
Ben
21st November 2021, 13:53
My comment was posted before the article name and details were updated…
Davey
21st November 2021, 14:26
Finally I can calm down now.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st November 2021, 12:28
Max should equally get a grid drop since got a double yellow when passing Gasly’s stationary car.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st November 2021, 12:29
he got
anon
21st November 2021, 12:42
@jerejj and it has now been formally confirmed that Max will receive a five place grid penalty, alongside 2 penalty points on his licence.
It looks like Red Bull did try arguing that Max should have been let off because there was no warning light on his dash, and the FIA has replied by pointing out that the regulations state that the marshals flags are the primary warning mechanism, not the dash lights, and it is the responsibility of the driver to follow the marshal flags.
Given that argument was made in Bahrain for Vettel, where he got a 5 place grid penalty for speeding in a double yellow zone, they’ve thus stated that they have to be consistent and impose the same penalty here as well.
David (@davidjwest)
21st November 2021, 12:28
5 place drop for VES just confirmed.
Marvin The Martian (@marvinthemartian)
21st November 2021, 12:30
Bottas was honest and said he didn’t notice the flags.
Sainz will likely be honest too.
Not sure whether I trust Verstappen to be honest or the stewards to be consistent at this juncture
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
21st November 2021, 12:32
I am curious is he tried to get out of it or admitted fault
DaveW (@dmw)
21st November 2021, 12:46
He only said “hi” to every question.
anon
21st November 2021, 13:05
@ivan-vinitskyy the notice from the stewards does not explicitly state the exact arguments that Verstappen gave, but the document states that the stewards “…note the representations of the driver and team representative for mitigation of [the] penalty…”.
That phrase would seem to suggest that Verstappen did therefore try to argue for mitigation of the penalty, but what exact argument he put forward is not recorded in that document.
Marvin The Martian (@marvinthemartian)
21st November 2021, 12:32
Well at least the stewards were consistent
OOliver
21st November 2021, 12:32
Max would be honest too but add that he was in control
CheeseBucket
21st November 2021, 12:40
Or state that it should come under the umbrella of ‘let them race’.
Allsop
21st November 2021, 12:45
Oh come on, you don’t know this drivers in persoon, so you don’t know what they will say or wether they will be honest or not. Speculation…. Stick to facts please…
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
21st November 2021, 12:31
Jep, entirely fair. Makes zero sense for Verstappen not to have slowed, even with the inconsistency on the flags and the screens. Self-inflicted gun shot wound this. Could be fatal for his title challenge.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
21st November 2021, 12:32
Having said this, struggle to understand how Sainz got away with it.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
21st November 2021, 12:41
Supposedly slowed done. Roger.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
21st November 2021, 13:38
@hahostolze still puzzles me as the last main sectors shown on f1tv are:
Alonso: 33.176
Vettel: 30.174
Verstappen: 27.543
Bottas: 27.769
Sainz: 27.731
And I don’t think Gasly’s car was stopped after the start/finish line, so there is definitely something strange if they saw a “significant” slowing down, compared to the onboard footage available.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
21st November 2021, 13:19
Final thought: if the double waived yellows were a mistake as is being suggested by Horner and Gary Anderson, this penalty makes less sense
x303 (@x303)
21st November 2021, 13:41
You couldn’t be more true here @hahostolze. I didn’t understand why Verstappen improved his time under yellow flag condition.
My understanding: it’s Max’ overall attitude, all-in or go home, no middle ground. He risked everything to try to outperform Hamilton – or stay in front of Bottas. I said before and I’ll say it again: Max Verstappen is too aggressive at times, and this time he made his life more difficult unnecessarily. This is end of the championship, he is leading the standing, he needs to pick his fights to maximize his chances.
petebaldwin (@)
21st November 2021, 12:31
Well that’s freed up my day! Annoying they took so long to make what appeared to be a simple decision.
OOliver
21st November 2021, 12:34
Well they were hoping that if they slept over night that by morning it would have all gone away.
To the shock of the stewards, viewers had not forgotten
petebaldwin (@)
21st November 2021, 12:46
I think they just left it as late as possible to get more people to tune in today. If they announced it yesterday, lots would have made other plans for their Sunday.
oweng (@oweng)
21st November 2021, 13:03
I don’t understand why they can’t have an allocated time window for investigations. Fixed window for after each session, with an allocated time for decisions to be released.
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
21st November 2021, 13:30
Because FIA run more than just F1, sometime there are other series. Consider the amount of sessions, weather, circumstances in the race and it makes it very hard to find specific time slot and then stick to it.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
21st November 2021, 12:31
Scandalous that it took this long for the stewards to make a decision
minnis (@minnis)
21st November 2021, 12:34
Given the length of time it’s taken for stupidly trivial decisions these days, I’m absolutely certain that the stewards are deliberately delaying making a decision so that it can be announced at a time that is more suitable for “the show”.
mystic one (@mysticus)
21st November 2021, 12:37
As it is usual nowadays, it s not unexpected. What is expected is if it was ham, it would be DSQ or race ban to Let Max race on his own… Otherwise how is this guy with the superior machine all year will win this wdc despite all the decisions given to Ham make way max to win it easy. He should have been wdc with 3-4 races to spare by now! I remember one vettel in a similar situation. At the end of the season few people will come and say we said it from the beginning it is the (Mercedes) car, max had zero chance!
Learon
21st November 2021, 13:00
These delays seem to be part of the ‘show’ these days… Who are we, wanting a race and not a show?!!
Barry Bens (@barryfromdownunder)
21st November 2021, 12:32
Wonder how much Netflix paid for the stretching of the decision.
Not to mention how much they paid good ‘ol Garry….
Adam (@rocketpanda)
21st November 2021, 12:32
Welp, wasn’t looking like he needed any help with that rocketship but there goes the championship and any hope for an interesting race. Oh well, was fun while it lasted.
mystic one (@mysticus)
21st November 2021, 12:39
I like funny jokers who jokes perfectly on the spot.
Becken Lima
21st November 2021, 12:57
Rocketpanda fakely disheartened just makes my day.
Anyhow, implying that Hamilton “needs help” and ignoring the offense Max did, just shows the moral standards of some Max fans.
Max, one the greatest drivers of this generation, doesn’t need this kind of fans. He deserves better.
Mayrton
21st November 2021, 12:33
Just what Lewis didn’t need anyway
David (@davidjwest)
21st November 2021, 13:48
Maybe, Verstappen might have had a chance of a good start taking the lead into T1, now Hamilton has to worry about Gasly who has nothing to lose plus Alonso will get a nice slipstream potentially.
ian dearing
21st November 2021, 12:34
And they used the Ham/Austria penalty as precedence in the Decision Doc.
David BR (@david-br)
21st November 2021, 12:37
:o) Sweet karma.
mystic one (@mysticus)
21st November 2021, 12:47
They needed Alonso’s view on this :)
David BR (@david-br)
21st November 2021, 13:59
@mysticus And Alonso in third on the grid, hmmm, should get a good tow on the clean side, could be an unexpected challenge for the lead!
David BR (@david-br)
21st November 2021, 13:59
Soft tyre too…
Slimmie205
21st November 2021, 12:34
Championship is over. Everything to make their princes champion again. It’s just one big British family. And then people say the FIA were against Mercedes and Co. What an anti climax season finale.
OOliver
21st November 2021, 12:36
Championship is not over.
ian dearing
21st November 2021, 12:37
You are right. In all my years of watching racing I’ve never seen a penalty given for ignoring yellow flags.
F1 frog (@f1frog)
21st November 2021, 12:38
Is there any way for racefans to ban the phrase ‘championship is over’ in these comments sections?
mystic one (@mysticus)
21st November 2021, 12:44
@f1frog
Also Mercedes was superior from the start. They had it easy phrases
petebaldwin (@)
21st November 2021, 12:50
A few posts up you’re claiming Hamilton would be disqualified if it was him ignoring yellows and now here you are complaining about people posting ridiculous statements…..
Ipsom
21st November 2021, 12:40
The championship might be over and yes it is anticlimactic to say the least, but this was an entirely fair decision.
Red Bull were caught napping when they didn’t tell verst to slow down after bottas didn’t improve his time, and then Lady Luck (and some verst recklessness) bit their asses
CheeseBucket
21st November 2021, 12:43
Yeah you are completely right. There is no WAY Max should have got a punishment for ignoring yellow flags, its not like it can be dangerous or anything, and it was only double waved. They are SO bias.
mystic one (@mysticus)
21st November 2021, 12:46
Yeah also it is max pftt he is the safest driver on the track and has record non penalty points to show for it.
David (@davidjwest)
21st November 2021, 13:49
Max should still finish 2nd, championship is getting closer race by race!
Gazza
21st November 2021, 12:36
See the stewards aren’t biased.
Let’s just tone down the rhetoric and go racing.
Learon
21st November 2021, 13:05
It seems that this weekend’s stewards are happy to be consistent with decisions made at previous grands prix. That’s good news for today: they can let them race with the boundaries of the rules. Let’s hope everyone races fair and hard and it’ll be fun to watch at least the start as it looks like we have a processional race on our hands.
Carbonised
21st November 2021, 13:32
It took the interweb lighting a fire under their arss to go the extra mile and find precedents. That’s positive no?
jlb
21st November 2021, 12:36
They are destroying the championship
CheeseBucket
21st November 2021, 12:44
Yeah you are completely right. There is no WAY Max should have got a punishment for ignoring yellow flags, its not like it can be dangerous or anything, and it was only double waved. They are SO bias.
DaveW (@dmw)
21st November 2021, 12:37
Lewis is going to have to treat Gasly and Alonso like radioactive waste at the start. He might just pull over and let them into turn 1 with enough space to avoid their crash.
Maybe this is verstappens turn to do a Brazil and blaze through the field. It would be a perfect part of the script for the season.
mystic one (@mysticus)
21st November 2021, 12:41
Or maybe he will drive like it is carmageddon and get what he is due and get himself dnf.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
21st November 2021, 13:46
@dmw
Alonso yes for sue. Though I don’t believe Gasly has enough personality and courage to go wheel to wheel with Hamilton. If he will be in that situation he’ll concede unless Hamilton being extra cautious thinking about the championship and doesn’t want to be involved in useless battle.
ttongsul (@ccpbioweapon)
21st November 2021, 13:49
DaveW ???
sorry to break it to you. GAS will have almost zero chance to challenge Lewis into T1 unless Lewis has a botched start . Starting 2nd is a MASSIVE disadvantage here due to being offline on a greener than grass track plus no support races like F2/F3/Porsche Supercup to rubber the track in either.
Only hope for GAS is to have a perfect launch plus Honda pu/battery dumping all its power and get off the outside line asap.
Alonso is historically poor at T1 runs thanks to poor PU Renault battery deployment from zero and he has rubbish reaction times due to age causing.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
21st November 2021, 12:38
They announced no review for Brasil during principals press con. Now they announced grid penalties during drivers parade.
This is not a sport.
This is soap opera.
ian dearing
21st November 2021, 12:41
Think it was Saward who pointed out that despite protocol DTS cameras were allowed into the Horner/Wolff press conference.
So yes.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
21st November 2021, 13:45
They are selling F1 to the lowest common denominator, I am not sure this will result in sustained interest from said segment.
It seems to be that Liberty are more interested in DTS than the actual sport itself. I may be exaggerating, I do believe that they are craving the drama more these days.
Cobray (@)
21st November 2021, 12:38
And the guy who parked it gets front row. Just wow.
ian dearing
21st November 2021, 12:41
As did Rosberg back in the day.
Cobray (@)
21st November 2021, 12:44
hahah thats true. Some consistency there. :)
DaveW (@dmw)
21st November 2021, 12:42
He should have been investigated just for rolling past the pit entry in that condition. It was very unsafe. Now he wins after Alonso collects Hamilton in t1.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
21st November 2021, 12:45
Gasly, for champion! Oh wait this is a sport.
petebaldwin (@)
21st November 2021, 13:06
Sort of….
JustSomeone
21st November 2021, 13:19
Also, 2nd time in three races RB gets bitten by wanting to be the last to do a Quali run….
Dan G (@dang)
21st November 2021, 12:39
I’d just like to thank this round’s stewards for making a logical decision in line with the published rules. Let’s hope future stewards act this way.
Dan G (@dang)
21st November 2021, 12:44
Wow. Horner live on Sky F1 accusing the FIA of making a balls-up, calling the marshal “rogue” for waving a double-yellow for a car, still with the driver inside, stopped on track, exactly as required by the FIA International Sporting Code (Appendix H section 2.5.5 if anyone wants to look it up).
All respect for Horner has just evaporated.
DaveW (@dmw)
21st November 2021, 12:52
After Totos finger jabbing meltdown in Brazil I feel like both dudes need to seek therapy before they both have strokes. Horner though seems like his mendacity might be his inner peace whearas Toto seems sometimes on the verge of tears when he is behaving badly.
OOliver
21st November 2021, 13:00
I’ve tried to understand Horner all these years, but he has a pattern of only seeing things his own way so I gave up.
RJ
21st November 2021, 13:09
yup, him as well as Toto are a discredit to the sport – I just want to see the races, not all the toddler drama from these 2 surrounding it.
F1 frog (@f1frog)
21st November 2021, 12:40
So nothing malicious in the stewards’ decision whatsoever, and all no need to claim the FIA are favouring Verstappen. Just enjoy the brilliant title battle we are having.
Fab
21st November 2021, 13:13
“People are favoriting Verstappen because they took so long and he could have been penalised before, it’s the proof that FIA is for Verstappen and …”
No matter what happens, if someone is fan of one or the other drivers, they will see it all white or all black.
F1 frog (@f1frog)
21st November 2021, 13:17
In terms of the on-track action, this has possibly been the greatest season of all time in Formula 1. For off-track action, it has possibly been the worst.
David BR (@david-br)
21st November 2021, 13:37
@f1frog I’m sure Senna-Prost was worse in terms off off-track action. Or even 2007-08 for that matter.
Andy (@andyfromsandy)
21st November 2021, 12:41
Carlos actually slowed down and so no penalty.
Plossl (@)
21st November 2021, 12:41
Lol, Horner blaming the marshal…
Cosan
21st November 2021, 12:45
Why the made the decision so late? If they have made the desicion yesterday or earlier maybe Red bull would have changed the engine…
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st November 2021, 12:51
I’m not sure that would be a good idea, they’re not starting that far back and red bull from what I heard gains less from a new engine than merc does.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
21st November 2021, 12:53
More importantly, overtaking seems way more difficult in Losail than in Interlagos
petebaldwin (@)
21st November 2021, 13:07
As someone suggested on here, the time to do it was in Brazil. Copy Hamilton and try to follow him through the field.
Felix
21st November 2021, 12:48
The decisions were likely what most expected by the stewards
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
21st November 2021, 12:49
How did this result in Bottas going to P5 rather than P6?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st November 2021, 12:51
Cause he jumps verstappen, from p3 to p6 to p5.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
21st November 2021, 12:52
I guess it has something to do with the order in which penalties are applied.
anon
21st November 2021, 12:54
@hahostolze because, as stated in the regulations, the process for applying the penalties is that the first driver to commit the offence has their penalty imposed, then the second driver has their penalty imposed in turn and so on.
Because, in this case, Bottas is judged to have committed his offence first, his penalty is applied first. Verstappen would then have his penalty applied next, as he is next in the chronological order, which would then move him back behind Bottas.
Learon
21st November 2021, 13:12
Simply because Verstappen has a 5 places penalty and Bottas 3. Verstappen promotes Bottas from 6th to 5th one by being moved below him. Nothing to do with the order in which the penalties are applied as others suggest. Simple maths.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
21st November 2021, 13:20
Update: now it has been switched
proud_asturian
21st November 2021, 12:54
Justice.
Davey
21st November 2021, 13:12
Guess who’s back…I recognize you. Don’t hide.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
21st November 2021, 13:49
+1
Davey
21st November 2021, 14:27
It’s the same one who said “COPE”. It’s the same one who said various ridiculous comments. It’s THAT former site member.
Davey
22nd November 2021, 13:39
The last time you were here, it was November or December 2020.
The one single “anon” who knew who you were kept track of you until you stopped commenting.
The anon ended the hunt against you when you were gone.
Until now, you’re here and they’re all coming for you…
johnandtonic
21st November 2021, 12:54
I would just like to see a race without any steward involvement. We are having a decent season and some decent races, but the main narrative is the stewards. It feels like this is sucking the life and enjoyment out of the sport.
Perhaps like football when the game is all about the ref something is wrong.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
21st November 2021, 12:58
There was a way for the stewards to not get involved. It required VER and BOT complying with Yellow Flags.
johnandtonic
21st November 2021, 13:06
No, that was not my point. Drivers must comply with the rules.
However, there seems to be as much (if not more) discussion on the stewards and their decisions than the actual racing. Perhaps, like VAR is previous seasons, they are causing problems rather than solving them.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
21st November 2021, 13:52
Fair enough, and apologies for mis-interpreting your post.
Carbonized
21st November 2021, 13:55
I think it has a lot to do with the media pouring fuel in the fire for the sake of Clic’s and fans stupidly playing along. controversy and penalty where always there, the internet not. It also feel like it has gotten worse with the ownership of liberty and their obsession with turning a sport into pure dollartainement. Just my 2 pennies :)
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
21st November 2021, 12:58
First Tsunoda, now Gasly, Tost is going to hear it again.
Now, why did the yellow sector lights turned off? Was it because Gasly’s car rolled off past the finishing line?
A glitch?
Again the focus is on race direction, no protocols seem to be in place nor order no rationale.
Shouldn’t have happened and RB were fighting 2-1 here, they were naive, they should have stopped Verstappen from finishing the lap. The reason for the different penalties is on race direction alone because the safety concerns were the same, the situation was as dangerous when both Sainz jr and verstappen went past as when Bottas did. The offence is the same but the order that got ignored is less indicative of danger.
GeeMac (@geemac)
21st November 2021, 13:01
Hand the title to Hamilton now. I was fairly certain Hamilton would take title number 8 after his dominant display in Brazil, but after this penalty for Verstappen Hamilton will take an unchallenged win today and with it will take a big chunk out of Verstappen’s lead. He’ll then take the lead of the championship for himself in Jeddah and will seal the deal in Abu Dhabi with another pair of comfortable wins.
It’s a done deal…
petebaldwin (@)
21st November 2021, 13:10
We’ll see – Verstappen starting on the front row next to Hamilton with nothing to lose? Hamilton’s engine being run in quali mode for 4 races straight? I don’t think it’s over just yet…
Andy (@andyfromsandy)
21st November 2021, 13:12
And the race hasn’t even started!
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
21st November 2021, 13:57
@geemac
Theoretically speaking, you’re spot on but as @petebaldwin mentioned Hamilton will certainly be torpedoed by Max if he is in his sight. The bitterness and the salt in both camps driven by both Horner and Toto is stellar to the point that a sporting championship end is not imaginable for me at least. In the last race when everything will be on the line a Senna Prost ending is the more likely scenario and the championship maybe will be decided in the court rather than on the track.
I suspect Gasly could have already received a direct order from Marko on how to race Lewis. I don’t believe that he can race Hamilton wheel to wheel but if we see him aggressive today then we can already imagine how Verstappen – who is already very aggressive – will race Hamilton in the next races.
Roper
21st November 2021, 13:06
MV penalty applied first so VB went to 2nd, then VB penalty takes him to 5th.
CashNotClass (@cashnotclass)
21st November 2021, 13:16
Ignoring yellow flags should be penalized. Always, including during the races, which sadly it rarely is.
However, the stewards would have done well to also investigate Gasly who did a very poor job parking his obviously damaged car. He wouldn’t have been able to make the pit entry in time, but to park when and where he did is not what you’d expect from an experienced F1 driver.
f12007v (@f1fan-2000)
21st November 2021, 13:17
Gasly makes a quick start to take the lead, alonso crashes into lewis, max wins.
Andy (@andyfromsandy)
21st November 2021, 13:23
Gasly would certainly like to show Red Bull their decision was wrong not to have him in the car. Alonso I don’t think is that type of driver.
Andy (@andyfromsandy)
21st November 2021, 13:28
MB might be hoping for a similar start today as Mexico but Max in place Dan.
kpcart
21st November 2021, 13:29
That’s a start for Verstappen. Now he needs to be driven off track at turn one as Karma.
ttongsul (@ccpbioweapon)
21st November 2021, 13:32
Fair penalty, don’t forget Monza a few years back when Lewis’s race was destroyed by a ridiculous 10 second stop go penalty for entering the pits because he couldn’t see a tiny pitlane closed sign on the outside Curva Parabolica whilst driving 200+ km/h.
Harsh for Max and other drivers but the rules are the rules and Max did not slow down enough under double waved yellows which is a sensitive issue in F1 from when when Jules Bianchi did not slow down enough when a crane was removing Adrian Sutil’s crashed car.
It was insane that charlie didn’t bring out a safety car, Jules would be still alive today if that was the case but that’s a totally different conversation
TL;DR
Slam dunk penalty for not slowing down for double yellows no ifs or buts. “Human error” is no excuse either because other drivers have been penalized for the same infractions so no amount of spin can paint wunderkind Max as a victim
George Brown
21st November 2021, 13:35
Listening to Brundle whining about Verstappen’s penalty and not at all about the one for Bottas. I mean…come on man, at least TRY to hide your bias.
Elgsdyr
21st November 2021, 13:43
Although it probably was fair (I haven’t looked deeper into it), this probably spells the end of the championship, sadly. Only some sort of chaos can prevent Hamilton from winning now.
Andy (@andyfromsandy)
21st November 2021, 13:48
It wouldn’t be unexpected if Max finished 2nd.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
21st November 2021, 14:00
Let’s be perfectly clear that Gasly’s action did not get him promoted to 2nd position. It was the actions of Bottas and Verstappen that got them moved down. Based on Horner’s comments, they seem like they went for it and then were going to argue that there should be no flags and no penalty. It was a bridge too far. F1 realized that they would be deciding the championship if they don’t penalize Max for anything for the last 4 races.
Luca Goodoer
21st November 2021, 14:10
So… why wasn’t Sainz penalised???