Red Bull has shrugged off the severity of George Russell's incident with Max Verstappen during qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix. The pair came close to making contact during their warm-up laps towards the end of Q3. Russell was forced to take avoiding action as Verstappen was driving slowly ahead of him, leading the Mercedes driver to label the incident as “dangerous”. The matter caught the attention of the stewards , who summoned Verstappen to a meeting in Qatar post-qualifying, placing his pole position at risk. However, team principal Christian Horner is confident Verstappen will escape punishment. “This is on an out lap where they're all warming tyres up,” Horner told Sky F1 . “So it's not a timed lap, so they're all jockeying and pushing for positions there. “He [Russell] is pushing those corners to generate tyre temperature at that point. I think his first sector was a long way off.” “It'll go to the stewards. Hopefully it should be alright.” Verstappen's run to pole ended a drought that stretched back to the Austrian Grand Prix in June. Speaking to Viaplay , Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko concurred with Horner's assessment. “It wasn't a fast lap. It was a faster warm-up lap. He also stated that on the radio, that it was a warm-up lap."
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