Stewards pass judgment on Sainz after incident with Verstappen

FIA stewards have agreed on the incident that occurred between Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz during qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix. It was decided not to penalise the Ferrari driver.

The stewards are of the opinion that Sainz was at fault, but feel a warning is in order. The verdict is that the Spaniard's driving was quite unpredictable from Verstappen's perspective, but at the same time, the stewards understand Sainz's story.

The Ferrari driver explained that he could not afford to be overtaken because otherwise, he would not have been able to stay under the maximum lap time between the first and second safety car lines. Both the stewards and Verstappen could understand the situation and so the stewards decided to stick with a warning.