Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen battling for that crucial pole in Saudi Arabia pick the Brit as Red Bull ace hits the wall.
Max Verstappen was going for an extremely good lap, indeed a special lap in the making. But at that tricky turn, the Dutchman locks up and hits the wall.
Allowing Mercedes to pop up with excitement as they sealed the front-row for the grid lineup on Sunday. Essentially gaining a significant advantage over their rivals in the title challenge.
Verstappen, who appeared dejected after coming out of the car, had nothing to show up for the post-race interview. He confesses P3 wasn’t the result he was aiming for.
“It’s of course terrible,” said Verstappen, post-qualifying. “In general it was a good qualifying, I knew the pace was there and it showed at the end. I don’t really understand what happened but I locked up, I still tried to keep the car on the track and keep going but clipped the rear and had to stop.”
“P3 is of course a bit disappointing knowing what lap I was on. But nevertheless it shows the t the car is quick and let’s see what we can do at the end of the race.”
Watch: Max Verstappen crashes on the wall
Lewis Hamilton elated with the result
Meanwhile, Mercedes camp was nothing but ecstatic after the result. Hamilton praised his teammate Valtteri Bottas got a P2 from the qualifying session.
“For us to get a one-two, I’m really proud of Valtteri and everyone on the team, this is a great result,” said Hamilton. “Those guys [Red Bull] were just so fast. They’ve obviously fixed something from their setup and they were rapid today.”
With minimal overtaking opportunities in Saudi Arabia, Verstappen’s crash is a huge benefit for the Silver Arrows.
Also read: Sergio Perez expects qualifying to be the deciding factor in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
