Max Verstappen has blasted his Red Bull team over a “never acceptable” mistake that led to him being called into box in the dying stages of Singapore Grand Prix qualifying.
The Dutch racer could seal his second world title this weekend if everything goes to plan but he has plenty of work to do after qualifying in eighth for Sunday’s Grand Prix. However, he would have been on course for a faster lap time before he was called to box on his final lap of Q3.
He was left raging at the call, with his team telling him to pit due to concerns over whether he’d have a sufficient fuel sample left afterwards. He was then heard lambasting his team over the radio with an expletive-laden rant.
“What the f***, what the f***, what the f*** are you guys saying?” Verstappen shouted. “Unbelievable, mate. I don’t get it, what the f*** is this about?”
He was then told by his engineer that the team would explain once he got out of the car. Afterwards, Verstappen was then quizzed on the incident and he maintained his stance that such an error from Red Bull shouldn’t have happened.
“I realised what was going to happen,” he told Sky Sports F1. “We ran out of fuel so that’s incredibly frustrating and shouldn’t happen.
“Even when you underfuel it, or you don’t plan to do that sixth lap, then at least you track that throughout the session that you’re not going to make it. We should have seen that way earlier.”
While Verstappen will have had enough fuel to complete the lap and his in-lap Red Bull were concerned he would not have had enough to provide a fuel sample to the FIA. If that had happened then he would have been forced to start at the back of the field or from the pitlane, considerably worse than the eighth place he currently finds himself in.
But that still wasn’t enough to simmer his emotions at the team’s strategic error through qualifying. “I know it’s always a team effort and I can make mistakes, and the team can make mistakes, but it’s never acceptable,” he continued.
“Of course you learn from it but this is really bad to be honest. It shouldn’t happen.”
While Verstappen had far from an ideal day it was one to remember for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who took pole for Sunday’s race. Sergio Perez took second in the other Red Bull while Lewis Hamilton managed to take third place on the grid.
It has been an eventful weekend for Red Bull in Singapore as they also face accusations of breaching the budget cap. Team principal Christian Horner has come out fighting insisting the team had done nothing wrong and even threatening legal action against Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
