Max Verstappen slams his hand on the steering wheel. In disbelief, he watches from behind the wheel of his RB20 as the second qualifying session for the GP São Paulo is halted a minute before the end. He’s out and will therefore start the race in seventeenth place, far behind title rival Lando Norris.
Qualifying on a wet track often leads to crashes, delays, and frustrations. Max Verstappen knows all about it after ten years. At the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, he’s the unlucky one. Not due to his own fault, but a late crash by Lance Stroll prematurely ends Q2. Just as he’s about to make his final attempt to drive into the top-10, there’s first a yellow flag, followed by a red one. His father Jos is visibly just as irritated as his son in Red Bull’s garage.
“When a car hits the wall, the red flag should be out immediately,” Max Verstappen grumbles. “I don’t understand why it has to take thirty, forty seconds before the flag is raised. Unbelievable… Really, it’s too stupid to argue about. Just idiotic.” It’s the first time this year that Verstappen misses the final session in a qualification. Since he has the twelfth time, he will later today start the race in seventeenth place. Due to a grid penalty for a fresh engine, he has to move five places back.
