Max Verstappen was sent to the stewards in Zandvoort.

Max Verstappen was summoned to the stewards at the Dutch Grand Prix for ‘driving unnecessarily slowly’ during qualifying, but escaped punishment. The Dutchman will line up third on the grid for his home race, behind pole-sitter Oscar Piastri and his McLaren team-mate, Lando Norris.

“The driver of Car 1 showed us telemetry that proved that he would have been within the delta time but for the yellow flag being shown towards the end of the lap – he had to slow significantly to comply with the yellow flag rules,” the stewards explained in their report. “This is what led to his delta time reflecting an infringement in the system.”

The 27-year-old went into the Dutch GP weekend looking to cause an upset. For his own lofty standards, Verstappen’s recent form has been underwhelming. The seven Grands Prix before the summer break produced just one top-three finish, and he has scored two race victories this season. However, it quickly became apparent in Zandvoort that McLaren would not relent for the penultimate running of the reigning champion’s home race.

Asked if he was content with third on the grid, he replied: “Yeah, for sure. The weekend, so far, has been quite tricky for us, but qualifying was basically the best I’ve felt all weekend, so that’s exactly what you want.

“To be honest, P3 here, I’m very happy with that. The energy of the crowd, of course, the whole weekend already, has been amazing, and to see so much orange in the grandstands is always very special.”

Verstappen was then asked if he’d be happy with a podium in front of his bumper home crowd. “Let’s see what we can do,” he replied. “The McLarens have been very fast all weekend, so it’s important to just focus on our own race. But this has been a good step forward. I hope that we can keep it going into the race tomorrow.”

The Red Bull star’s Drivers’ Championship battle now rests with George Russell and Charles Leclerc, who are looking to hunt the Dutchman down for third in the standings. As things stand, he is 15 points ahead of the Mercedes racer, and 36 ahead of the Ferrari man.

Meanwhile, at the front, Piastri got the upper hand on his team-mate and championship rival. According to 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, this will be a psychological blow to the Brit. “We’ve been talking about the championship and what games are being played or not, and the effect it has,” he told Sky Sports F1.

“This is important today. All weekend, in practice and the start of qualifying, Lando kept doing perfect laps, and Piastri was about a tenth or two behind – that’s a huge gap as a team-mate. And now, just in that last lap that counted, Piastri does his best lap when it matters. He got all the balls in together. Very important psychologically.”