The reigning world champion escaped the first part of qualifying in Mexico City with ease, topping the timing screens in Q1 ahead of McLaren’s star rookie Oscar Piastri and AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo.
However, Verstappen’s Q1 session wasn’t as simple as expected with the Dutchman noted and then placed under investigation for stopping at the end of the pit lane.
This marks the second time he’s done this since the summer break with Verstappen impeding the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell during qualifying in Singapore last month.
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Verstappen wasn’t the only driver to catch the eyes of the stewards for stopping at the end of the pit lane with Russell also facing a post-session investigation for the same crime.
The 25-year-old Brit stopped at the pit lane exit with less than three minutes remaining on the clock, preventing Williams driver Logan Sargeant and both Alfa Romeo cars from heading out on their laps.
Toto Wolff was then given more reason for concern after Hamilton was placed under investigation for failing to slow under yellow flags during the closing stages of Q1.
With a host of drivers heading out for their final laps, Fernando Alonso sent his AMR23 car into a spin at the exit of turn three bringing out the local yellow flags.
These yellow flags put the nail in the Q1 coffin for Lando Norris, who was eliminated with his team-mate sitting in P2. He told Sky Sports F1: “I don’t know, I got told to box. So something obviously wasn’t right.
“But that wasn’t a problem, I just made some mistakes on the one lap that I had and obviously there was a yellow in the end from Fernando. So that one opportunity, that one lap that I was given, I didn’t put it together. I had one lap and I didn’t do it, so it’s on me.”
