MEXICO CITY – Max Verstappen has been stripped of the pole for Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix.
During the final qualifying session Verstappen roared to a stunning 1:14.758 lap, which gave him the track record by a scant .001 seconds. However, Verstappen failed to slow down after passing one yellow flag following a crash by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in the final corner of the circuit.
Event stewards ruled the Red Bull driver “attempted to set a meaningful lap time and failed to reduce his speed in the relevant marshalling sector.”
As a result, Verstappen was demoted from the pole to fourth for Sunday’s race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, where he is the two-time defending race winner. He was also given two penalty points for the infraction.
“It is very disappointing to be handed a grid penalty for the race and Ferrari will be very quick tomorrow so tire life will be important but we have a really good race car so it should be a close fight,” Verstappen said.
Charles Leclerc, who originally qualified second, will now start the race from the pole for Ferrari. He’ll be followed by his teammate Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen and his teammate, Alexander Albon, will start fourth and fifth.
Bottas ended up sixth despite his crash in Q3, followed by the McLaren duo of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris. Toro Rosso drivers Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly completed the top-10 in qualifying.