Verstappen's media comments didn't spark FIA yellow flag investigation

Max Verstappen thought he had qualified on pole position for the Mexican Grand Prix, but that was taken away from the Dutchman after the FIA gave him a three-place grid penalty for ignoring yellow flags in Q3. Verstappen made some comments in the press conference that might have worked against him, but race director Michael Masi says the comments had nothing to do with the launch of the investigation. 

At the press conference following the Mexican qualifying session, Verstappen announced that he didn't slow down once he spotted the double yellow flags for Valtteri Bottas' crash on the final corner. At the time of the press conference, the FIA hadn't announced that the situation was under investigation. 

Soon after Verstappen's comments, the investigation was launched. It was seemingly Verstappen's comments that helped spark the investigation, but Masi claims the stewards were looking at it from the start. 

“By the time I referred it to the stewards, and told the stewards that the matter’s to be looked at, it was after that that Max’s comments came to light," Masi told RaceFans. 

“We were actually looking into it straight away. But with the sequence of what happened, the primary thing was Valtteri’s health, getting the Medical Car out there, making sure that he was all OK. So, [that] being at the end of the session was one part. The second part, once that happened, was obviously getting the car back to the team. The third element [was] repairing the circuit for the next activity. So as part of my role as the safety delegate, I went out there to make sure that everything was back in position.”

“[I] got back to the office and started working through all the various bits of data that exists and had all three cars that were after Valtteri’s incident, which was Lewis, Sebastian and Max, and reviewed all three.”

Verstappen was pushed back to P4 for the Mexican Grand Prix. The Dutchman tangled with Lewis Hamilton at the start of the race which put both drivers on the grass. Verstappen then touched Bottas which gave the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver a puncture.