Max Verstappen retains his pole position for the Singapore Sprint race following a stewards’ investigation into an overtake under yellow flag conditions during qualifying.
The Red Bull driver overtook Lewis Hamilton while a yellow flag was displayed due to an accident involving Sergio Perez. Hamilton immediately reported the infraction via radio.
After review, the stewards confirmed that Verstappen did indeed overtake Hamilton in a yellow flag zone but judged that the significant speed difference and Verstappen’s appropriate response (lifting off the throttle as confirmed by telemetry) made a penalty unjustified.
The official report states that Verstappen had already begun braking and that to avoid the overtake, he would have had to brake very hard, which could have been dangerous. Therefore, despite the infraction, no sanction was applied.
