Max Verstappen’s F1 title defence looks set to suffer a blow at the Brazilian Grand Prix after a red flag denied him the chance to reach the top 10 in qualifying, while Lando Norris took pole
Max Verstappen’s F1 title defence looks set to suffer a blow at the Brazilian Grand Prix after a red flag denied him the chance to reach the top 10 in qualifying, while Lando Norris took pole Max Verstappen’s F1 title defence looks set to suffer a blow at the Brazilian Grand Prix after a red flag denied him the chance to reach the top 10 in qualifying, while Lando Norris took pole
Christian Horner wants talks with Formula 1 race director Niels Wittich after his Red Bull team “fell foul” of an ill-timed red flag in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen was knocked out in Q2 of what was an incident-filled session run in very wet conditions in Sao Paulo. There was a delay after Lance Stroll crashed before the session was stopped, by which time the Dutchman had fallen to 12th on the timesheets.
There was not enough time left in that part of qualifying for him to have the chance to improve. And, because he has taken a five-place engine penalty, Verstappen will start the Grand Prix from 17th on the grid.
The very unhappy Dutchman fumed afterwards: “A car hits the wall and it needs to be straight red [flag]. I do not understand why it needs to take 30 or 40 seconds for a red flag to come out, it is just bulls***. Honestly, I will let it go. It is so stupid anyway to talk about, it is ridiculous.”
His team principal Horner managed to restrain himself a little more but was still clearly seething that it took so long for the session to be stopped. He told Sky Sports: “It is hugely frustrating. In a session like that there is obviously a huge amount going on, but we do not understand why it took so long for the red flags to come out.
“It was obviously a big accident at turn three, one of the most dangerous corners on the circuit. Forty seconds it took to throw the red flag, and that is the second day in a row now where we have had very late calls. It was the virtual safety car yesterday and the red flag today – but the other red flags were all instantaneous.
“All you have got to do is focus on safety – it is not about letting cars finish laps or not. As soon as you have an accident like that it should be an immediate red flag, because you have got a driver in the wall at one of the most dangerous corners on the circuit with cars coming through.
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“You cannot just say, ‘Oh, we will just wait for the others to finish their laps’. It does not work like that. Lance Stroll was not trying to get that car going again, it was screwed. He hit the barrier hard, it was in the middle of the track there at turn three – that is a red flag.
“There are two elements to that. We have fallen foul of it. Obviously, if they red-flagged it immediately Max would have been 10th and there would have been time for another lap. But, unfortunately, we have fallen on the wrong side of it today. It is a tough one.
“We got compromised on the first lap with Esteban Ocon passing Max into the first turn. It was one of those mornings where nothing went right for us. We would just like to understand the thinking of the race director as to why it took so long for that red flag. Our focus now is on the race – what has happened has happened.”
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Mirror – Sport
