What really happened in Brazil crash response that enraged Verstappen
Sun 03, Nov, 2024
Source: The Race
Max Verstappen was incensed by the handling of Lance Stroll’s crash in Brazilian Formula 1 Grand Prix qualifying, after Red Bull’s world champion suffered a surprise Q2 elimination.
Verstappen is due to start the race 17th on the grid after an early exit in qualifying, postponed to Sunday morning, following a red flag in the second session.
Stroll lost control of his Aston Martin through Turn 3 at Interlagos and spun into the barriers.
Verstappen was the second car through on track after Stroll crashed and encountered double waved yellows through Turns 1 and 2, which automatically voided his lap.
It took nearly a minute for the session to then be red-flagged, which denied Verstappen the chance to start a final flying lap.
He was 10th at the time of the crash, so in a position to progress to Q3, but Charles Leclerc completed a lap approximately three seconds after Stroll's impact, which relegated Verstappen to 11th.
A later improvement by Liam Lawson in the lengthy time to red flag the session dropped Verstappen one place further to 12th.
Verstappen, who called the handling of the crash “unbelievable” and felt it was “so stupid to talk about”, said: “The car goes into the wall, broken, it’s clearly destroyed, but they wait 30-40 seconds so everybody else can just complete their lap times, and of course the ones behind cannot even do a lap.
“I can’t get my head around it, how that is possible to just let it go for 30 seconds, 40 seconds, and that of course ruins qualifying.
“We are already limited with the pits because we’re at the back so when you do the restart time you have to wait until you go out so we’re always in the back.
“It really blows my mind.”
However, Verstappen seemed doomed the moment Stroll crashed in the place he did, at the time he did.
Stroll’s incident was initially dealt with using double-waved yellows because despite the size of the impact, he was trying to rejoin - which race control tries to allow because then it is possible for the session to be completed.
Stroll had the engine running, reversed slightly, then went forward a couple of times. He only aborted trying to return to the pits - turning the engine off and removing the steering wheel - after the red flag.
If Stroll had been able to get going and limp back to the pits, or even move to a safer location, then the yellows would have been withdrawn.
If that happened in time, Verstappen would have been able to start one final flying lap, as his run plan allowed for consecutive push laps at the end of Q2.
So, it was actually in Verstappen’s interest for the session not to be red flagged instantly and instead be handled with temporary double-waved yellows, if possible.
There was further scrutiny when huge, separate crashes for Fernando Alonso and Alex Albon in Q3 were dealt with using ‘immediate’ red flags.