Listen to this article A mechanical problem for Valtteri Bottas on the run out of the Variante Alta had left the Finn’s Alfa Romeo stationary at the side of the track, and brought out the warning flags for drivers. Verstappen was one of the first cars through there, and duly completed his lap to secure a session-topping time. While a long ago it may have been the case for drivers to lose improved laptimes automatically if they passed through yellow flags, this time there was no problem for Verstappen because he had fully obeyed the current requirements laid down in F1. For practice and qualifying sessions, the drivers must follow the guidelines laid down by F1 race director Niels Wittich in his pre-event race notes at each event. He makes clear there is a big distinction between how drivers must behave when there is a double yellow and what happens when there is a single yellow. Had the double yellow flags been put out for Bottas’ incident, then Verstappen would have had no choice but to abandon his lap. The notes states that: “Any driver passing t …