16 September 2023 , 16:52
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Max Verstappen avoided a grid penalty for the Singapore Grand Prix despite the Formula 1 stewards completing three separate investigations into the Dutchman.
The Dutchman was already set to start the race was down the grid after an awful day at the office. He struggled with the balance of his car throughout the session and could not go quickly enough in Q2 to make it into the top 10.
It meant his best possible starting position was 11th and, to make matters worse for Red Bull, a spin for Sergio Perez meant he could only go 13th fastest. But there was another problem looming for them.
Verstappen was under investigation for two separate incidents during qualifying. He was accused of stopping in the pit lane and getting in the way of other drivers as a result, while the other was an impeding probe with Yuki Tsunoda the complainant.
The race director referred the incident to the stewards, who decided to investigate it after the session. Representatives from both Red Bull and sister team AlphaTauri were called to give their sides of the story.
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After hearing those arguments, the stewards decided a reprimand was enough of a punishment. He also received a reprimand for being slow to exit the pit lane, while it was decided that no punishment was necessary after he was accused if impeding Logan Sargeant.
Explaining why no penalty was necessary for the Tsunoda incident, the stewards said Verstappen was not warned by his team that the Japanese racer was so close. As a result, Red Bull were slapped with a fine rather than the driver being punished.
Regardless, Verstappen had already said before the hearings that it would not make much of a difference to his negligible chances of winning on Sunday if he were to pick up a penalty, with the 25-year-old resigned to the likely outcome that his 10-race victory streak will come to an end.
He said: "At this point, it was so messy that it doesn't matter if we start P11, 15th or last. It's more important that we just understand why it was so bad. For me, that's way more important than trying to score a couple of points this weekend."
In the absence of the Red Bulls, the fight was on for pole position. Carlos Sainz won that particular battle, putting Ferrari in the best position to be the ones to rob Red Bull of their 100 per cent winning record this season.
George Russell will start on the front row with him, sandwiched by the two Ferraris with Charles Leclerc behind him. Lando Norris is fourth on the grid and Lewis Hamilton fifth, meaning three Brits in the top five and in with a good chance of winning a race for the first time in 2023.