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Formula 1 championship leader Max Verstappen has escaped a grid penalty for his near-miss with Lando Norris in Suzuka qualifying and will therefore line up on pole for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
With the pair on their initial outlaps in Q3, Norris tried to overtake Verstappen down the inside of 130R, only to be forced to dart to the side and skip across the grass on the inside of the corner when Verstappen’s RB18 snapped to the left and nearly caused a crash.
That was close! 🙈
Lando Norris just avoids Max Verstappen, who gets a huge kick of oversteer coming into the final chicane
No contact is made and they both continue#JapaneseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/L0sztfX65N
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 8, 2022
Norris was insistent post-race that it was a clear-cut penalty, his view from on board leading him to believe that Verstappen deliberately tried to chop him off to prevent him from gaining track position.
But Verstappen maintained that it was just his point of acceleration, and that he’d suffered wheelspin on cold tyres trying to set up his flying lap.
The stewards were ultimately sympathetic to Verstappen’s argument, having reviewed “video and timing evidence”, but also pointed out that it was his responsibility to “at all times maintain control”.
“The driver of car #1 was aware of car #55 in front and car #4 approaching from behind, and decided to accelerate at precisely the same time as car #4 decided to overtake car #1,” the verdict read.
“Unfortunately, due to lack of tyre temperature on car #1, the driver temporarily lost control of the car causing it to ‘snap’ anti-clockwise.
“The driver of car #4 [sic, presumably car #1] stated that this was simply an unfortunate incident, however it is the driver’s responsibility to at all times maintain control of their car.
“Regarding penalty, all previous breaches of this nature have resulted in a reprimand hence a similar penalty is imposed in this case.”
It is Verstappen’s first reprimand of the 2022 season, and keeping pole leaves him in a strong position to secure the world championship in Sunday’s race.
