Chaos in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix saw a host of crashes and a red flag controversy that left Max and Jos Verstappen fuming with F1 officials
Chaos in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix saw a host of crashes and a red flag controversy that left Max and Jos Verstappen fuming with F1 officials Chaos in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix saw a host of crashes and a red flag controversy that left Max and Jos Verstappen fuming with F1 officials
Jos Verstappen was seen angrily slamming his fist down and turning away in disgust following the red flag chaos in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Outspoken Verstappen Sr was caught on camera fuming after delayed red flags ruined his son’s hopes of finishing anywhere near pole in Sao Paulo. The Dutch ace was 12th on the timesheets in Q2 when the red flags were finally waved in a perilous session, but had cars been halted quicker, he would have been 10th and made it through to Q3.
Due to his five-place grid penalty at the start of the race, Verstappen will now line up 17th on the grid later this afternoon. Lance Stroll’s crash in the heavy rain was the catalyst for the red flags, but disorder ensued as they did not immediately fly, taking around a minute-and-a-half from the driver’s collision into the barriers and the decision to red flag the session.
FIA race director Niels Wittich attempted to wait to allow those on a flying lap to reach the finish line if he could, but eventually decided he could not carry on waiting. It did, however, allow enough action to dump Max out in Q2. Verstappen Sr was furious with the outcome and was seen turning away from the monitor in disbelief and anger at what had just happened – not for the first time this season.
Max was not at all happy that he was not given the chance to reach Q3, like title rival Lando Norris was. The Brit was seventh when Stroll collided with the barriers but managed to cross the line to move to the top of the timesheets before the session was called to a halt – and he ultimately finished qualifying on pole position, giving him a huge chance of shrinking the gap between him and Max in the world championship title race.
Max labelled the red flag mayhem as “stupid” and “ridiculous”. Speaking on the decision to wait so long to stop the session and throw the red flag, which allowed various cars to finish their laps, the three-time champion branded it as “bulls***”.
“A car hits the wall and it needs to be a 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***,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1 straight after his qualifying was ended. “Honestly, I will let it go. It is so stupid anyway to talk about, it is ridiculous.”
The incident was the third red flag of a stormy session where rain drenched the Interlagos circuit. The first event came in Q1 when Franco Colapinto spun his Williams.
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Lewis Hamilton suffered a second Q1 exit, while Norris also barely survived the wet weather. Carlos Sainz lost control of his Ferrari earlier in Q2, Stroll’s crash was the third of the day, but a fourth also occurred in Q3 when Fernando Alonso sent the other Aston Martin into a barrier.
However, more havoc was to come as Alex Albon suffered the biggest crash of them all. The driver has now pulled out of the race after his car was written off.
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“I’m out, for sure, there’s no way. There’s no way,” he told Viaplay when asked for an assessment of his car’s damage.
Norris eventually took pole while compatriot and Mercedes star George Russell managed to go second quickest to make it an all-British front row. The race is set to take place at 3.30pm GMT.
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Mirror – Sport
