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Max Verstappen

Verstappen criticises FIA: 'It makes no sense for them to take this away!'

Max Verstappen is not best pleased about being called before the stewards at the Qatar Grand Prix, something that could see him stripped of his first pole position since the Austrian Grand Prix.

Verstappen Qatar Quali
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Max Verstappen was unimpressed about being summoned to the stewards at the Qatar Grand Prix over his qualifying near-miss with George Russell.

The pair locked out the front row at the Lusail International Circuit, but almost came together during the closing stages of the grid-setting session.

The Dutchman was judged to have been going too slowly on his final preparation lap. It led to him being summoned to see the stewards. 

If found guilty of the alleged offence, he would be handed a grid penalty, something that would elevate the Mercedes driver to pole position.

To Verstappen, even being called in front of the FIA officials does not make sense, arguing he was merely doing what was expected of him.

"If they take this away, then of course it doesn't make any sense at all," Verstappen stressed to media including RacingNews365.

"We were all just driving slowly. I wouldn't know what I could have done differently. The fact that I have to go there is already very strange to me."

"Otherwise, next time I'll just drive full throttle too and pretend I'm crashing everywhere. Then George should have just braked. I'm braking too, aren't I?"

There have been a considerable number of drivers noted for falling short of the maximum lap time expectations so far at the Qatar Grand Prix, but Verstappen's incident almost led to contact with Russell behind, which could prove the differentiating factor.

Update: The F1 stewards have opted to hand Verstappen a one-place grid penalty. Read about it here!

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