FIA Clears Verstappen After Singapore Yellow Flag Review

The FIA stewards have cleared Max Verstappen of wrongdoing after investigating his overtake on Lewis Hamilton during sprint qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix. The decision allows Verstappen to keep pole position for the sprint race at Marina Bay Street Circuit without a penalty.

The investigation followed an incident in SQ1 after Sergio Perez crashed at Turn 5 and lost his front wing on the racing line, causing a red flag. According to the FIA review, Verstappen passed Hamilton while both cars were inside the yellow flag sector.

According to the FIA stewards, Verstappen had fully lifted off the throttle after seeing the yellow flag, and telemetry confirmed his response. The review found Hamilton was traveling around 70 km/h slower at the point of the overtake, creating a significant speed difference.

The FIA stewards reviewed driver statements, team representatives, timing data, telemetry, video evidence, radio communication and in-car footage before reaching their verdict.

"The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 3 (Max Verstappen), the driver of Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence. As Car 3 was exiting turn 7 on a push lap, a single yellow flag was displayed. Car 44 was ahead of Car 3 and had been warned of Car 3’s approach.

The Driver of Car 44 said that after exiting turn 7, he slowed and moved to the right to ensure he was off the racing line. Car 3 overtook Car 44 prior to turn 8 while both cars were still in the yellow flag sector. Car 3 then abandoned the push lap.

The Driver of Car 3 explained that he was on throttle exiting turn 7 and then saw the yellow flag and lifted. This was confirmed by telemetry. Within approximately 40 metres of entering the yellow flag sector, the Driver of Car 3 had lifted fully off throttle.

The Driver of Car 44 was braking and had reduced speed to less than 60km/h at the point Car 3 overtook. Because Car 3 was on a push lap and was on throttle out of turn 7 and Car 44 had slowed, the speed differential at the point of the overlap was significant despite the fact that the Driver of Car 3 had also started braking. The Stewards were satisfied that the Driver of Car 3 reacted appropriately to the yellow flag by lifting off throttle and reducing speed.

The speed of [Car 44] at the overtake point was some 70km/h less than Car 3’s speed on another push lap in the same session. The Driver of Car 3 explained that to have avoided the overtake would have required him to have braked very heavily and he considered to have done so would have potentially created an unsafe situation. The Stewards determined that the Driver of Car 3 breached the yellow flag regulation by overtaking Car 44.

However, the Stewards were satisfied that the overtake was an unfortunate consequence of the significant closing speed differential and, in these circumstances, determined not to impose a penalty." said the FIA stewards.

The verdict means Verstappen retains his sprint race starting position at Marina Bay Street Circuit. No grid penalty or additional sanction was issued after the review.