Formula 1: Max Verstappen stripped of pole, Charles Leclerc promoted

Max Verstappen has been stripped of his second Formula 1 pole position, handing the pole to Charles Leclerc for the Mexican Grand Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took the pole position for Sunday afternoon’s Mexican Grand Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, his second pole position of the 2019 Formula 1 season and of his career.

But after recording a track lap time of 74.758 seconds (128.767 miles per hour) around the 17-turn, 2.674-mile (4.303-kilometer) Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course in Mexico City, Mexico to take this pole position, he has been penalized and stripped of that pole position.

Verstappen has been issued a three-position grid penalty for ignoring the yellow flags after Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Valtteri Bottas crashed as this round of qualifying came to a close.

According to Formula 1, the stewards stated the following.

"“[Verstappen] attempted to set a meaningful lap time and failed to reduce his speed in the relevant marshalling sector.”“[Verstappen] admitted that he was aware that car 77 (Valtteri Bottas) crashed and did see the car on the left hand side of the track, but was not aware of the waved yellow flag. He also admitted not reducing his speed on the yellow sector.“The Stewards noted from the on board images of Car 33, that the waved yellow flag was clearly visible and was shown with enough notice.“The previous driver (Vettel) reduced the speed significantly as per the regulations.”"