Max Verstappen will start the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on the eighth row of the grid after suffering an engine problem in Q2.
The Dutchman was the overwhelming favourite to take pole having topped the timesheets in all three practice sessions. But in the second part of qualifying he suddenly complained of an engine problem over the radio.
He was able to limp back to the garage but it wasn't long before he was out of the car and making his way to the interview area. As a result he could only go 15th fastest, meaning he will start the race on the eighth row rather than on pole, as was expected.
Verstappen had told his team over the radio that he felt it was a problem with his engine. But, upon listening to a replay, Sky pundit Martin Brundle said it sounded like it might have been a problem with the drive shaft.
"I have a problem, engine, a problem," he said over the radio. He then added: "It's not accelerating." He was told to try to make it back to the pits if he could and managed to do so, but he was very quickly out of his car once it was back into the garage.
The Dutchman had been struggling with a problem with downshifts in Bahrain two weeks ago, an issue which resurfaced on Friday practice in Jeddah. As a precaution, the gearbox was changed on his car.
Red Bull have since confirmed that the problem was not with the engine but, as Brundle suspected, the drive shaft. He will attempt to win the race from 15th on the grid on Sunday.
Verstappen told Sky: "It's the first time I've heard about [a drive shaft issue]. It happened coming out of turn 10. It's very annoying for it to happen as I think so far we've had a really good weekend. Every session has gone really well and every time we went on the track the car was working really well.
"So now it will be a bit more tricky to get to the front. But it's all about scoring points. It's a long season. Of course, I would have preferred to start further up the road, but I can't change that now.
"Anything is possible at this track. We've seen a lot of crazy things, but we have to stay realistic. It's going to be tough, but we have good pace so for sure we'll move forward."
