Max Verstappen did not quite have the best possible qualifying session in Abu Dhabi last night, as he had to settle for P6, largely due to strategic issues from Red Bull.
The tyre strategy from Red Bull for Verstappen wasn’t spot on, as he wasn’t able to go into Q3 on the ultrasofts, and needed to switch to the hypersofts in order to find a spot in the top 10 shootout.
Everyone around Verstappen will be starting on the ultrasofts, with only Verstappen being forced to start on a different strategy.
Qualifying didn’t go to plan. Hopefully our car balance is a bit better tomorrow. We’ll try our best to move forward during the race! #KeepPushing #AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/Fe33h60yhX
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) November 24, 2018
Thus, Verstappen might have to go in for an earlier pit stop than his top 6 competitors.
Post qualifying, Verstappen was furious with his team for a disastrous qualifying, labelling it as a ‘f**king disaster’.
He then went onto clarify his statements and explain what exactly went wrong with the car and how the tyres were a bit too hot for Verstappen’s liking.
“It’s just a natural reaction,” Verstappen said.
“I lost the car, I went off, so I was just disappointed I couldn’t finish that lap.
“It was just in the heat of the moment as it was just not our qualifying. I could feel straightaway I was sliding too much then of course you keep on trying and trying and it’s not working and when I went off I was like ‘Ah for fuck sake’.
“They were a bit hot. I think they were too hot already before and I said maybe we should do something a little bit different.
“I went out of the box and they were even warmer so then I had to slow down even more and then at one point you can’t heat up your brakes like you want to into turn 1 and stuff so yeah, it all got a bit compromised.” he added.
