Max Verstappen learns Dutch GP fate after stewards' investigation

Max Verstappen has avoided a penalty for the Dutch Grand Prix after the stewards accepted his "rationale" behind an infringement that led to him facing a post-qualifying investigation.

The four-time F1 champion was cited for "driving unnecessarily slowly" at the end of a qualifying session in which he had secured third on the Zandvoort grid behind an all-McLaren front row, spearheaded by Oscar Piastri, who finished just 0.012s ahead of team-mate Lando Norris.

Verstappen's superb performance in his Red Bull threatened to be undermined by the fact he was cited by the stewards for failing to comply with the sporting regulations at the time, and being in contravention of race director Rui Marques' event notes.

After hearing from Verstappen, a team representative, and after reviewing the position/marshalling data, video, timing, telemetry and in-car video evidence, the stewards have decided to take no further action.

A stewards statement read: "Car 1 exceeded the maximum time specified in the race director’s notes by 3.8 seconds, without slowing down to let any cars pass. This time was exceeded in the inlap after car 1 took the chequered flag.

"The driver of car 1 showed us telemetry that proved that he would have been within the delta time but for the yellow flag being shown towards the end of the lap. He had to slow significantly to comply with the yellow flag rules.

"This is what led to his delta time reflecting an infringement in the system.

"We accepted his rationale for slowing down and accordingly took no further action."