UPDATED: Verstappen cleared of impeding Magnussen, keeps pole

Max Verstappen has retained his pole position at the Austrian Grand Prix after escaping punishment following an investigation into whether he impeded Kevin Magnussen in Q1.

Magnussen was starting a flying lap and exited the first corner to find Verstappen on the exit curb after having just completed a lap of his own. The Haas driver continued his lap, but took to team radio to say: “Max Verstappen was completely in the way.”

After Verstappen secured his fourth consecutive pole position, the stewards issued a summons for both him and Magnussen -- who was eliminated in Q1 -- to explain the incident for potentially unnecessarily impeding.

However, the stewards found that Magnussen did not have to significantly alter his line to pass Verstappen and chose to take no further action.

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“The driver of Car 1 stated that he saw a car approaching after he crossed the line at the end of his push lap and moved to the left of the track after the exit of Turn 1,” the stewards’ decision read. “The driver of Car 20 stated that he had to move to the right to avoid Car 1 and hence lost time on his fast lap.

“The Stewards determined from the video (and audio) evidence that Car 20 had clipped the curb in Turn 1 and that this subsequently caused a slight change in acceleration which in turn resulted in a slightly slower time on the next mini sectors.

“The Stewards further determined that Car 20 did not have to take significant evasive action.”