Max Verstappen is at risk of a penalty again after his questionable Qatar GP antics, as reported by The Straits Times.
Verstappen was on a final flying lap in the dying moments of qualifying. However, an incident brought the yellow flags out, and it meant the drivers on hot laps had to abort their attempts.
Some of them did, but some chose to carry on without lifting off. Among them was the championship leader, who crossed the line at an illegal speed and still failed to improve on his best lap time.
The Dutchman qualified second-fastest overall, nearly half-a-second adrift of the pole sitter. However, he could drop down the grid after the stewards get involved.
Verstappen is at risk of a penalty again after his questionable Qatar GP antics, and faces the possibility of a penalty he didn’t get in Brazil.
The stewards put out a statement saying that Verstappen and a representative from his team must appear before them at 1 pm local time before the race. The meeting will be held four hours before the lights go out in the race.
Legal scope
The yellow warning flags require drivers to reduce speed significantly and be prepared to stop in case there is any incident on track. Verstappen did not do so, and he now faces the risk of a grid penalty.
In addition to the Red Bull driver, Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz are also at risk of getting a penalty. However, driver like Sebastian Vettel lifted off, and suggested that everyone should have.
“I don’t know if it was a single yellow or double yellow, but if there’s a car standing on track, then it should be a double yellow,” he said.
“And double yellows are ‘abort the lap’ so I lifted. Maybe I was the only one.”
Read more: Hamilton hit with title blow in hunt to topple Verstappen due to potential shortening of campaign