Vasseur expected Verstappen to drop five places for Hamilton yellow-flag pass

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur expected Max Verstappen to lose his Singapore Sprint pole, but the stewards decided against penalizing the Red Bull Racing driver.

When speaking to Canal+, Vasseur did not know whether the Dutchman would be penalized, but highlighted that “he overtook under yellow flags, so I think he’ll get a five-place grid penalty.”

In the end, Verstappen was not penalized, and kept Sprint pole in Singapore.

Ferrari had a direct interest in the outcome. Verstappen’s lap on the soft tyres left him 0.120s clear of Russell, with Leclerc a further tenth back in P3. The McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took P4 and P5 respectively, and Hamilton was sixth in the second Ferrari.

A five-place drop would have put Verstappen sixth and moved everyone ahead of him up one place. George Russell would have started on pole and Charles Leclerc would have joined him on the front row. Hamilton would have moved up to fifth.

Vasseur’s call for five places matches the standard tariff. A five-place grid drop is what the penalty guidelines set for overtaking under single yellows in qualifying.

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In their ruling, the stewards determined that the driver of car three technically breached the yellow flag regulation by overtaking car 44. Where they part ways with Vasseur is on what should follow.

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. Verstappen explained that to have avoided the overtake would have required him to have braked very heavily, which he felt could have been unsafe.

Vasseur was also frank about why the team did not get there on pace alone. After the second part of the Sprint qualifying session, the Tifosi were full of hope, with Leclerc first and Hamilton second. Once everyone switched to soft tyres, the picture changed.

“Overall, it was quite a good qualifying. We were in the fight, it was really tight. We were a little more competitive on the medium tyres than on the softs. But yes, it’s also preparation for Saturday. So yes, it’s not bad,” Vasseur added.