Vettel stirs the pot on Verstappen incident: "It was clear you had to lift"

Ferrari star Sebastian Vettel has explained "it was clear you had to lift" when approaching Valtteri Bottas' wreckage during Q3 of qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix, as the German approached the crashed Mercedes before Max Verstappen did, who remained flat-out.

Verstappen went on to improve on his time that was already good for provisional pole and grabbed his second pole position of the season.

The FIA didn't deem it necessary to investigate Verstappen remaining flat-out through the final corner despite Bottas' wreckage being there as he passed the scene very quickly after it happened.

However, Vettel passed Bottas before Verstappen, and he thinks it was obvious you had to lift.

“It was clear it was double yellow," the 32-year-old said at the press conference following qualifying.

"I saw Valtteri was in the barrier, people were jumping on the track to help. it was clear you had to lift.”