Verstappen fumes at race control ahead of P17 race start

Max Verstappen called it “unbelievable” that race control took 40 seconds to throw a red flag late in Q2 that has left him starting 17th at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix once his five-place grid penalty for a new internal combustion engine is applied.

Multiple crashes delayed Sunday morning’s qualifying session in the rain, with Lance Stroll going off late in Q2. At the time, Verstappen was 10th, but with the session continuing under double waved yellows to allow those ahead of the crash to complete their laps, Verstappen was pushed down into the drop zone in 12th place by the time the red flag came out.

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“I find it unbelievable,” Verstappen 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.”

Verstappen described the situation as “bulls**t” to Sky Sports, adding “Honestly, I’ll let it go, it’s so stupid to talk about it’s ridiculous.”

With a five-place grid penalty for exceeding power unit components already confirmed, Verstappen is set to start from 17th on the grid, and although he could be promoted a number of positions due to crash damage for other cars, he’s expecting a tough race.

“Starting far in the back so will be quite difficult to pass here with the spray and the rain," he said, "so we’ll have a look.”