Verstappen stripped of Mexican GP pole, Leclerc promoted

Max Verstappen has had his pole position for the Mexican Grand Prix taken away from him after Formula 1 stewards penalized the Red Bull driver for ignoring the yellow flag that occurred during the final round of qualifying due to a crash from Valtteri Bottas, according to Formula1.com.

After reviewing the video and speaking with Verstappen, stewards stated that the driver "attempted to set a meaningful lap time and failed to reduce his speed in the relevant marshaling sector."

Charles Leclerc will start in P1 for the Mexican Grand Prix, having posted Saturday's second-best time at qualifying, while Verstappen's three-spot penalty will have the Dutchman starting at P4.

The entire provisional grid is now as follows, with Bottas potentially also incurring a penalty for his last-minute crash.

Verstappen had already posted a track record of 1:14.758 prior to Bottas' accident, so the costly failure to yield under caution flags was entirely needless.

"It is very disappointing to be handed a grid penalty for the race," Verstappen said. However, the 22-year-old admitted he was aware of Bottas' crash and that he didn't reduce his speed in the sector.