Verstappen made his frustration clear after a team miscalculation forced him to abort his final lap in Q3 because he didn’t have enough fuel to finish it, then return to the pits with the amount required for an FIA sample still in place. the tank.
The team had misjudged the number of laps he could do on a track that was drying out and getting faster.
He was ordered to the pits as he approached the final corner of the lap, and responded by repeating over the radio: “Why? What the fuck is this? »
He had already been told to relax on his previous flying lap in order to create a gap with Pierre Gasly who was in front.
The Dutchman found himself stuck in eighth place on the grid for Sunday’s race.
Asked by Autosport about his frustration given that his team have rarely let him down, Verstappen made it clear that any criticism can work both ways.
“I know, but I like the critical approach,” he said. “Because when I screw up, they can also tell me you know, I’m making a mistake. And I think it should be the other way around too.
“Because that’s how we keep each other going in the right direction, because we want to be perfect, and we don’t want to be good. We want to be perfect.
When asked if he had told the team what he thought, he replied: “I think they know when they saw my face and what I said on the radio.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, locks up his brakes and smokes his tires
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Verstappen was adamant that the pit wall should have done their accounts on the lap count.
“I think we were a bit surprised that of course we got that extra round,” he said. “But you can follow that, you [can] see it coming. That’s why I don’t really understand how it was missed.
“And, of course, in hindsight, they should have let me finish the lap before where they told me to retire already to make a gap for the last lap. It all also kind of kicked off with Pierre in front me.
“That’s why I had to create a gap for that last lap, because I was closing in on him. But that’s no excuse. I can’t see the amount of fuel in the car. But we all the sensors of the world to track this stuff.
“So yeah, incredibly frustrating, because I think we had a good car. The conditions are tricky, but I like it. The car was also running very well.
Verstappen was adamant that his penultimate lap, cut short when he was told to swerve Gasly, would have been fast enough for pole.
“It was already over two seconds off my fastest in Q3. I mean, even on the lap I did, I had a big moment in the last sector. And I already had about two seconds ahead, I think, before even getting to those two corners.
“It was a big deal. It could have been that straight up the wall! But we saved it.
“Normally if you have enough fuel in the car, that last lap would have been faster. I didn’t know I didn’t have enough fuel in the car, otherwise of course I would have just raced.
“It was good, it definitely would have been pole. Because like I said, my 1m51.3s or whatever I did, I had a really big slide in that last chicane before the last corner. So there was a lot of stuff in there.
