Max Verstappen’s victory prospects ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix have gone down the drain after a shocking red flag-induced Q2 exit. Since the timing of the red flag was controversial, the Dutchman was unsurprisingly furious and so was his girlfriend Kelly Piquet. She sarcastically called out the FIA by putting up an Instagram story.
“Waiting 40 seconds to put out the red flag. Well done FIA,” she wrote. Verstappen also slammed the FIA in his post-qualifying interview, stating he did not understand why the governing body took 30-40 seconds to bring out a red flag when it should have been a “straight red”.
Max isn’t happy pic.twitter.com/KQBQisPGoX
— Autosport (@autosport) November 3, 2024
The FIA indeed did take a while before they brought out a red flag after they saw Lance Stroll have a massive collision into the barriers. Since the Canadian hit the barriers at turn three with just over a minute left on the clock, the FIA decided not to restart the session as it would have anyways taken drivers about a minute and a half to begin their final runs.
As a result of the timing of the red flag, Verstappen could not improve on his final run and managed to qualify only P12. What further added to his frustrations was that several cars were able to improve their lap times because of the delayed red flag.
Moreover, given that he has a five-place grid penalty for the Grand Prix due to him taking a new internal combustion engine (ICE), Verstappen is in a miserable situation with this qualifying setback.
Can Verstappen salvage something in Brazil?
With several cars having major crashes during Sunday morning’s qualifying, it seems like Verstappen’s five-place grid drop may be nullified. Alex Albon has already confirmed that his car has extensive damage and will not be ready in time for the race start, ruling him out of the Sao Paulo GP.
So, Verstappen will at least start from P16, after the implementation of his grid penalty for the final starting grid. Furthermore, even Carlos Sainz could take a new gearbox and Ferrari could make changes to his car, which could lead to a potential pitlane start for the Spaniard.
The damage to Alex Albon’s Williams pic.twitter.com/8rosZdfTO3
— Autosport (@autosport) November 3, 2024
Likewise, the Aston Martin cars are also under threat of pitlane starts, as both their cars suffered crash damage during qualifying. Moreover, with Lewis Hamilton also claiming that he may need to start the race from the pitlane, Verstappen could still get in a decent starting position at Interlagos.
Still, the 27-year-old has a steep challenge at hand with the rain forecast remaining consistent throughout the day. It is set to be a wet race and Verstappen will have to repeat his heroics from the 2016 Brazilian GP, wherein he put in a stellar showing on wet tires to claim a famous podium.
With the world championship on the line and his title rival Lando Norris starting on pole, Verstappen will have to pull off something special at Interlagos to avoid a big points swing in the standings.
