The stewards have finally made their call on that tense moment between Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar during Shanghai qualifying.
Racing Bulls will pay a €5,000 fine for the pit lane incident, but Hadjar escapes without a penalty.
This means the young French driver keeps his impressive P7 starting position for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix.
The drama unfolded during Q3 at Shanghai International Circuit when Racing Bulls released Hadjar from his garage directly into Verstappen’s path as the world champion was driving down the fast lane.
Verstappen had to quickly steer right to avoid a collision.
The two drivers eventually sorted themselves out on their out lap, with Verstappen overtaking Hadjar. Both were later summoned to explain their sides of the story to race officials.
In a separate investigation, rookie Oliver Bearman was cleared of any wrongdoing after being investigated for potentially impeding Lance Stroll.
The stewards decided Bearman’s actions weren’t intentional, and Stroll himself acknowledged that the young British driver had tried his best to get out of the way.
It’s been a dramatic qualifying session in China, with these pit lane incidents adding extra tension to an already action-packed day.
The decision to fine the team rather than penalize Hadjar directly shows the stewards placed responsibility on Racing Bulls for the unsafe release rather than blaming the driver.
