Stewards not understood after reprimand for Verstappen: 'Want consistency'
General
- Toby McLuskie
Max Verstappen was investigated for several incidents by race control after qualifying in Singapore, but the Red Bull Racing driver did not receive a grid penalty in any of the three cases. That Verstappen went unpunished for obstructing Yuki Tsunoda caused a surprise at Aston Martin.
On Saturday night at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Verstappen hinted that he had indeed gotten in the Japanese Tsunoda's way. "It wasn't good. I didn't see him because I was talking over the radio when it occurred. I only heard he was there when I was right behind him. That actually summed up our qualifying as well: it was just super hectic and chaotic."
The two-time world champion had to come and explain to the stewards, along with Red Bull's team representative. A delegation from AlphaTauri was missing, although it later turned out that was because no invitation had been received from the FIA to attend the hearing.
Only reprimand for Verstappen
Verstappen was eventually cleared. Why? Red Bull took the blame, arguing that it had informed its driver too late about the oncoming Tsunoda. The stewards juxtaposed similar incidents from this season and decided on that basis to give Verstappen a reprimand and Red Bull a fine.
That decision caused misunderstanding on the part of Aston Martin. In fact, a grid penalty of three places is often handed out if a driver holds up a rival driver in qualifying. "The stewards have all of the information. From our side when you’ve been impeded, it’s frustrating. What we really want is consistency," stated Aston Martin's performance director Tom McCullough to PlanetF1 and others.