Disbelief at Verstappen's grid penalty: 'It's foolish!'

Verstappen reportedly drove unnecessarily slow during qualifying. George Russell, who was also not doing a fast lap, narrowly avoided the Dutchman. Immediately, the Brit complained over the radio, after which the stewards were told to investigate it. They decided to give Verstappen a grid penalty of one place.

'The grid penalty for Verstappen is silly'

Button has reservations about the FIA's decision: "The problem for me is that he’s got Fernando Alonso in front of him doing exactly the same speed. It’s not like Max has just gone, ‘I’m going to put the anchors on, and hit the brakes right in the middle of a high-speed corner.’ He’s got the same distance to the car in front the whole way through turns 12 and 13, so it’s shocking to me that he got a penalty," he explained.

Hinchcliffe also disagrees with the penalty: "It's beyond odd. It's foolish. It's silly. It's unnecessary. Neither driver were on a push lap. You know, George, yes, he had to take evasive action, but he came up on Max. You could see him clearly. It's not like he was around a blind corner. This is the second flattest country on the planet, you can see for miles. And George didn't judge it correctly, had to drop a wheel in the dirt." The race in Qatar gets underway in a matter of minutes. Can Max Verstappen regain the lead at the Lusail International Circuit?

This article was written in collaboration with Toby Nixon