A large number of drivers including Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have been summoned to meet with the FIA race stewards over several potential infractions arising during today's qualifying session.
The top two drivers - Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who secured a Ferrari front row lock-out for tomorrow's Mexican Grand Prix at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez - are not among those under investigation.
However Max Verstappen -= who finished qualifying in third place behind the two Ferraris - will be among those called upon to explain an incident that occurred toward the end of the first round.
Verstappen appeared to trigger a major tailback in pit lane as he crawled toward the end of pit lane. Although the Red Bull didn't quite come to a complete stop, it was barely moving even after the white line denoting pit exit.
Under the current FIA sporting regulations this could be deemed a breaches of Article 37.5. But Verstappen insists he did nothing improper “Everyone is trying to make a gap,” he said. “I don’t think I did anything weird or wrong.
“I saw a car passing five cars behind me and then he tried to pass me as well but I’m just trying to make a gap out of the pit lane," he continued. “That is basically what everyone has been doing so I’m quite surprised.
"I think everyone then should be called up for impeding, because with these new rule, everyone is driving very slowly in the pit lane," he argued. "Everyone is trying to find a gap in the pit lane, which is the only place where we can do so, so I don’t really understand how we can be impeding someone.
“I think we have to be a little bit more lenient with that, knowing it’s a safe environment. It’s the only place we can make a gap. We drive out of the box and we don’t know what other people are doing," he added. "It’s all imperfect at the moment, so we need to come up, probably, with something else."
Also summoned was Fernando Alonso who did something similar. In his case the Aston Martin came to a complete stop just before the white line. The next car in line behind Alonso was Mercedes' George Russell, who has also been summoned.
Verstappen was previously involved in a similar pit lane incident in Singapore where he avoided a penalty and given a reprimand instead when stewards said no obvious advantage had been gained by waiting.
However the stewards' statement at the time added that “the potential for this to negatively impact other drivers warrants a penalty”. The stewards admitted later that Verstappen should have been penalised over other infringements.
Russell has additional matters to discuss with the stewards after he, Lando Norris, and Zhou Guanyu were noted for exceeding the maximum delta time under yellow flags triggered by Alonso spinning on track.
Lewis Hamilton and Logan Sargeant are being investigated for a separate but related matter in which they are alleged to have not slowed sufficiently under yellow flags for the Alonso incident.
And Sargeant and Yuki Tsunoda will be investigated after the session for overtaking under yellow flags. from the same incident.
Williams have also been summoned to thee stewards' office over a pit lane incident in which Tsunoda struck a piece of their equipment after it had been left positioned outside the Williams pit area.
Russell will be reporting to the stewards at 16:45 local time in Mexico. Verstappen is next up followed by Alonso, Hamilton, Sargeant and Williams/Tsunoda at 15 minute intervals through till 18:00 local time.
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