Max Verstappen
has avoided a grid penalty for Saturday’s Miami Grand Prix sprint race
Following an inquiry into his performance, his Red Bull Formula 1 team was issued a warning instead.
.
By the conclusion of the initial qualification stage
Aston Martin
driver
Lance Stroll
ran into Verstappen along Miami’s primary straight towards the last tight turn, forcing the Canadian to dodge around him.
Red Bull
into the braking zone.
When Stroll described the incident over the team radio as “reckless,” he believed it had cost him significantly. With only a tenth of a second between him and Q2, he felt this mistake could have secured his position in the next qualifying round.
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Andrea Kimi Antonelli
and both
McLaren
Drivers were called before the stewards for reportedly driving at an unreasonably slow pace.
According to the FIA’s sporting regulations, it is forbidden for a vehicle to be driven in an excessively slow, unpredictable, or possibly hazardous manner at any stage. This rule aims to prevent risky scenarios throughout qualifying rounds as well. For the Miami weekend, race direction has set a cap of 1 minute and 45 seconds per lap based on practice session performances, enforcing this limit through race control.
Following discussions with the Dutch driver and a member of the team, the officials concluded that Verstappen exceeded the specified maximum delta time by six seconds. The squad clarified this discrepancy as being due to an issue with his dashboard displaying incorrect timing information.
Since Verstappen maintained his pace steadily and the officials determined that he did not create a hazardous scenario, they decided that punishing Verstappen personally wasn’t required. However, the responsibility fell upon his team to provide accurate data. As such, Red Bull receives a warning instead of the world champion.
Max Verstappen from Red Bull Racing
Photo credit: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
The FIA race stewards provided their complete ruling, stating: “Vehicle 1 exceeded the necessary minimum time by approximately six seconds between Safety Car Lines 1 and 2 during one lap ofSQ2; however, it met the criteria in every other instance. The telemetry indicated that the driver maintained a steady pace consistently over this particular lap, seemingly controlling the delta about six seconds below the target figure, with no other vehicles nearby.”
At the hearing, the team mentioned that because of incorrect programming in the vehicle, the delta time shown in the car was off by 6 seconds. While the driver relied on this displayed delta, they were consistently about 6 seconds over the required minimum time. By the conclusion of the initial cooling down lap, the team pinpointed the issue and promptly directed the driver to adjust their speed so as to remain at least 6 seconds under the delta time indicated in the car for every subsequent lap. Telemetry data corroborated these actions.
The stewards recognize that although there was a violation of the rules, VER did not drive “unreasonably slow” according to the data available within his vehicle nor did he obstruct other vehicles or generate any hazardous conditions. Consequently, they decide against penalizing the driver. Nevertheless, a formal warning is directed at the team since they must guarantee accurate timing details are presented inside the car. It’s important to mention that under differing scenarios, a harsher sanction could have been imposed for an equivalent offense.
Verstappen retains his spot in fourth place on the grid for Saturday’s 19-lap sprint race, whereas Stroll begins further back at 16th position.
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