Just when we were all getting excited at the prospect of seeing Verstappen become the youngest ever pole-sitter, there was a collective groan when a replay showed him potentially getting in the way of Bottas, who was on a hot lap.
Mercedes claimed Bottas had been held up and the stewards said they were going to investigate it. Here we go again…
With Vettel stealing pole at the last minute at least there was no longer a chance of the pole-sitter changing ahead of the race. And although it wasn’t as black and white as that overtake at COTA, there was still a possibility that Max could have got a grid penalty.
However, the stewards – who, thankfully for Max, are not the same ones he called ‘idiots’ in COTA – spoke to both drivers, and have decided not to give Verstappen a penalty.
They said that although Verstappen may have affected Bottas’s lap, they don’t consider it impeding, because he did get out of the way – albeit slowly.
It’s good news for the race, as having three different teams starting from the first three places should make things pretty exciting.
