Why stewards do not hand out grid penalty to Verstappen in Singapore

A grid penalty for Verstappen hung in the air after F1 qualifying for the Singapore GP. The Red Bull Racing driver had to answer to the stewards for no less than three offences. Normally, you would then expect a grid penalty as the outcome. Similarly, Max himself was guilty of the incident with Yuki Tsunoda.

Why didn't Verstappen get a grid penalty?

Yet the stewards do not hand out a grid penalty. Why? Starting with Verstappen's first offence: holding up other drivers in the pit lane. For this, Verstappen gets a reprimand. His first of this season and thus one without consequences. The stewards spoke to Verstappen and a team representative and came to the following conclusion:

''The driver states that he left a gap of about 14 seconds to create a gap to the cars in front of him.'' The team representative revealed that this gap was negated by slow-moving drivers in front of Max at turn five. While there was no clear advantage for the driver to wait exceptionally long in the pit lane, there was a chance of consequences. Therefore, a penalty does follow. The stewards have therefore decided that a reprimand is appropriate for this penalty.''

Source: FIA

Sargeant defends Verstappen

The stewards therefore ruled that Verstappen did not take advantage of the situation, but did put drivers behind him in a potentially awkward position. After all, overtaking in the pit lane is not what the stewards want either, so the drivers behind Verstappen were stuck. For the incident with Logan Sargeant, Verstappen gets no penalty at all.

Verstappen revealed to the stewards that he was surrounded by all sorts of other cars and any move could have meant a potential crash. He did, however, leave enough space on the outside for Sargeant to pass him. Sargeant in turn informed the stewards that he felt Verstappen was not to blame for the fact that there was barely room to pass him. With that, the matter was settled.

Source: FIA

Two reprimands for Verstappen

Then the third offence: holding up Tsunoda. For this, Verstappen clearly took the blame after qualifying and for this, a grid penalty seemed plausible. Yet the stewards decided to give Verstappen only a reprimand and Red Bull Racing will be fined €5,000.

Verstappen revealed to the stewards that he moved aside the moment he saw Tsunoda, but it was already too late. Red Bull took the blame for this, stating that it had informed Verstappen too late about Tsunoda coming up behind. The stewards juxtaposed similar incidents from this season and, based on this, decided to give Verstappen a reprimand and Red Bull the fine.

Noteworthy about the stewards' statement is the fact that Tsunoda did not show up to give his side of the story.

Source: FIA