Max Verstappen rages at FIA race director as Brazilian GP red flag dents F1 title hopes
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was outside the top 10 when the red flags flew at the end of Q2, meaning he never got the chance make sure he would start higher than 17th for the Sao Paulo race
by Daniel Moxon · The MirrorMax Verstappen took aim at the Formula 1 race director as he vented after red flags ruined his qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman was 12th on the timesheets in Q2 when the red flags began to fly. And, because he will serve a five-place grid penalty at the start of the race, he will line up 17th on the grid.
Lance Stroll's crash was what caused the red flags, but they did not immediately fly. Race director Niels Wittich tried to wait to allow those on a flying lap to reach the finish line if he could, but eventually decided he could not wait any longer.
But Verstappen was not at all happy that he was not given the chance to reach Q3, like title rival Lando Norris did. The Brit was seventh when Stroll hit the barriers and managed to cross the line to move to the top of the timesheets before the session was stopped.
The Red Bull racer fumed: "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."
Even if the red flags had been waved immediately, Norris would still have made it safely through into Q3 and Verstappen would have been out. The Dutchman would have been one place higher, though, as he was 11th when Stroll crashed and 12th when the session was eventually stopped.
That incident was the third red flag of an incident-hit session as the rain poured at the Interlagos circuit. The first came in Q1 when Franco Colapinto span his Williams, after which Lewis Hamilton suffered a second Q1 exit of this Americas triple header of races while Norris barely survived.
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