Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner believes Max Verstappen’s final Q3 effort in Saudi Arabia would have been “the lap of the year” without his mistake.
Verstappen was over two-tenths of a second under Lewis Hamilton’s benchmark on his final Q3 push lap when he locked up into Turn 27 and ran wide.
Verstappen tried to make the corner but hit the wall on the exit, damaging the right-rear of the car, which he halted on track a few metres later.
The error left Verstappen down in third, behind Hamilton and Mercedes counterpart Valtteri Bottas.
“It was looking like the lap of the year up until that moment,” said Horner.
“It’s a great shame as it was a mighty, mighty lap and he was pulling something very special out of the bag.
“Max will be frustrated I am sure as he knows what a good lap it was, but he just needs to put it behind him now.
“He’s still P3 on the grid and he just needs to have a good start, as anything could happen in this race.
“Unfortunately, we are on the back foot now, so we’ll get the car back and hope the damage isn’t too bad.
“Grid position on any street circuit is crucial and it’s going to be very hard to overtake here, so it’s all going to be about strategy and Checo could have a major part to play in the race.”
Sergio Perez is due to start from fifth place on the grid.
Christian he had it sorted and binned it. Great kn the limit driving until it was over the limit. Very typical Max. He’ll get over it, but not today.
What the hell.. Hamilton gets a slap on the hand for not slowing for on track double yellow.. worse than Verstappens incident who was given 5 place grid penalty… and another thing, he gets new engine and gets 5 place penalty, verstappen gets sent to the back of the field.. and if you change engines for the next race, how can you then change back to the previous engine with no penalty… I can’t wait until that whining SOB retires from F1!! He makes me sick!!! The only reason he has won the most races is because he has raced the best car for the last, what.. 7 years.. I bet he would have only won maybe a third as many if he had been driving for HAAS !!!! And that might be a stretch… again if he doesn’t win, then it’s because they didnt have the right setup or some other excuse…
Yeah, he got away with it because there were no yellow flags, waved or indicated o the dash for him ot ignore….
So…. Not lap of the year then!
Red Bull driver Verstapen reminds me of someone else, Micheal Schurmacher. They both drive thinking rules don’t apply to them.
I’ve been watching F1 since the “60’s and watching him drive as with Micheal, back in the day. Go over all the races this year and watch as Verscrappen aim his car directly at other cars.
He will never accomplish what Lewis has so by knocking out other drivers doesn’t make him a better driver, just dangerous!!
GROW UP FOOL!