Max Verstappen keeps his hard-fought pole position for the Singapore Sprint race after surviving a post-session investigation by the stewards. That is right, the Red Bull driver dodged a grid penalty despite overtaking Ferrari rival Lewis Hamilton under yellow flags during the opening SQ1 phase.
The drama started instantly when Sergio Perez’s Cadillac slammed into the barriers, prompting the yellows. Hamilton immediately jumped on the radio to report, “Max overtook me under yellow flags.” Verstappen, for his part, offered to let the Ferrari driver by again, noting, “I think I passed him before the yellow, but I just want to be safe.”
It’s always close here in Singapore. Also your lap itself. You’re pushing as hard as you think is possible, close to the walls in places,
After a thorough look at the incident, the stewards reached a clear verdict. They confirmed that Verstappen did technically breach the yellow flag regulations when he passed Hamilton before Turn 8, but they ultimately decided the circumstances spared him from a penalty.
According to the official decision document, telemetry proved Verstappen was hard on the throttle exiting Turn 7 on a push lap before spotting the warning. Within approximately 40 metres of entering the yellow flag sector, he lifted fully off the throttle. Meanwhile, Hamilton had already moved to the right and dropped his speed to less than 60km/h. Because Verstappen was still carrying momentum from his push lap while Hamilton was braking, the closing speed differential was massive. Verstappen's speed at the overtake point was roughly 70km/h slower than his normal push lap pace in the same session, and he argued that slamming on the brakes to avoid passing Hamilton would have triggered an unsafe situation.
The stewards were satisfied that the Red Bull driver reacted properly by lifting off and slowing down. While the rulebook was technically broken by the pass itself, it was deemed an unfortunate byproduct of a wild speed difference rather than a deliberate defiance.
Before the verdict dropped, an upbeat Verstappen reflected on a machine that felt completely different once the track gripped up. Having claimed his and Red Bull’s first win of the season at Sepang last time out, he admitted the RB22 “came alive a little bit more” during Sprint Qualifying.
“It’s always close here in Singapore. Also your lap itself. You’re pushing as hard as you think is possible, close to the walls in places,” Verstappen said. “For sure, once we bolted on the soft tyres, it felt like the car was coming alive a little bit more, but I did not expect this. Of course, [I’m] very happy to be first. I think in the last few races we’ve been a lot stronger. This track still highlights a few little weaknesses in the car, but we managed to drive with them as well as possible.”
