Max Verstappen summoned after George Russell qualifying incident in Qatar

He was warming up for his final qualifying lap in Lusail when a fast-approaching George Russell backed off midway through his lap, with Russell claiming that moment was “super dangerous” between the two.

Max Verstappen summoned after George Russell incident in Qatar

While Verstappen has been called to the stewards for allegedly driving unnecessarily slowly and not specifically for impeding, the timing (21:58) would appear to match up with the lap on which Russell closed up to the back of the Red Bull driver.

Explaining that moment when seeing footage after the session, Russell said: “I ended up going through the gravel all over the floor earlier, so it felt like the floor was scraping over that kerb and through the gravel.

“So I hope it didn’t damage it. Maybe that’s the reason why we didn’t improve, I don’t know, but it was bit of a hairy one two corners before we start the lap.”

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Verstappen will report to the stewards at 23:15 local time (20:15 GMT) to discuss the moment, having taken pole position for the race.

He out-qualified Russell by just 0.055s to take his first pole position since the Austrian Grand Prix in the summer, which came as a surprise to the four-time World Champion.

“I mean, honestly, I also didn’t expect that,” Verstappen said.

“But well done to the team, to give me a car that feels a bit more connected, and once the car is a bit more together, you can push also harder, and felt a lot better out there in qualifying for me.

“We did change a bit on the car, but I never thought it would make such a swing in performance, so that’s promising.

“I hope it also lasts more in the race. I don’t know that yet, but it just felt already a lot more stable over one lap, and that’s exactly what we need.”