Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix polesitter Max Verstappen has been summoned to the stewards for allegedly impeding Kevin Magnussen during qualifying.
Verstappen topped all three segments of Friday qualifying at the Red Bull Ring but faces an investigation that could threaten his pole position for Sunday’s grand prix.
Verstappen was summoned for an “alleged breach of Article 37.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations – unnecessarily impeding”.
The alleged impeding occurred at Turn 1 shortly after the session resumed following the red flag caused by Valtteri Bottas spinning his Alfa Romeo.
He’s due to see the stewards at 8pm local time (7pm UK time). If he’s handed a grid penalty it will only be applied for Sunday’s race, with Saturday a standalone sprint day as in Baku.
The situation being investigated occurred when Verstappen was on the outside of the exit out of Turn 1 before moving to the right as Magnussen – starting a flying lap – approached him.
Verstappen then asked his engineer “he was on a fast lap?” to which his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase replied
“yep, roger”.
The incident didn’t come up in Magnussen’s post-qualifying print media session, the Dane instead focusing on a downshift issue on his final lap that left him “in the wrong gear for Turn 3” and was “very costly” for his chances of getting out of Q1.
