Why Verstappen avoided a penalty after Sprint Qualifying yellow flag incident in Singapore

Max Verstappen put himself in the best spot for a Sprint victory at the Singapore Grand Prix after sealing pole in Sprint Qualifying.

However, the Dutchman initially faced some uncertainty over his position due to a potential yellow flag infringement during SQ1, an incident that was only investigated once the session was over.

Following the stewards’ hearing, it was confirmed that Verstappen would not receive a penalty – and we’ve rounded up the details on why that was the case.

What happened?

Single yellow flags were waved in SQ1 due to Cadillac’s Sergio Perez hitting the barriers, and Verstappen subsequently appeared to have overtaken the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton – prompting Hamilton to report over the radio: “Max overtook me under yellow flags.”

Verstappen then commented: “I’ll let Lewis by again. I think I passed him before the yellow, but I just want to be safe.”

A document released following the stewards’ hearing into the incident explains: “As Car 3 [Verstappen] was exiting Turn 7 on a push lap, a single yellow flag was displayed. Car 44 [Hamilton] was ahead of Car 3 and had been warned of Car 3’s approach.

“The driver of Car 44 said that after exiting Turn 7, he slowed and moved to the right to ensure he was off the racing line. Car 3 overtook Car 44 prior to Turn 8 while both cars were still in the yellow flag sector. Car 3 then abandoned the push lap.

“The driver of Car 3 explained that he was on throttle exiting Turn 7 and then saw the yellow flag and lifted. This was confirmed by telemetry. Within approximately 40 metres of entering the yellow flag sector, the driver of Car 3 had lifted fully off throttle. The driver of Car 44 was braking and had reduced speed to less than 60km/h at the point Car 3 overtook.”

Why didn’t Verstappen receive a penalty?

The stewards felt that Verstappen had “reacted appropriately to the yellow flag” and acknowledged that, while he had breached the regulation, this was “an unfortunate consequence of the significant closing speed differential”.

As the document states: “Because Car 3 was on a push lap and was on throttle out of Turn 7 and Car 44 had slowed, the speed differential at the point of the overlap was significant despite the fact that the driver of Car 3 had also started braking.

“The stewards were satisfied that the driver of Car 3 reacted appropriately to the yellow flag by lifting off throttle and reducing speed. The speed of Car 3 at the overtake point was some 70km/h less than Car 3’s speed on another push lap in the same session.

“The driver of Car 3 explained that to have avoided the overtake would have required him to have braked very heavily and he considered to have done so would have potentially created an unsafe situation.

“The stewards determined that the driver of Car 3 breached the yellow flag regulation by overtaking Car 44. However, the stewards were satisfied that the overtake was an unfortunate consequence of the significant closing speed differential and, in these circumstances, determined not to impose a penalty.”

This means that Verstappen retains his pole for Saturday’s Sprint at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, where he will line up ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.