Last Updated on November 3 2024, 3:32 pm
Jos Verstappen was seen to slam his fist down in anger following the red flag dominated qualifying saga and with a total of five suspensions across all three sessions this became the most red flagged qualifying since this format was introduced almost two decades ago.
As qualifying two came to a conclusion, Lance Stroll hit the wall in turn three and found his car stranded just beyond the white lines at a high speed section of the track. Race control took over fifty seconds to throw the red flag by which time Max Verstappen had fallen from P10 to P12 as others were allowed to complete almost full laps.
Not for the first time this year, Verstappen Sr was visibly angry with the outcome as he turned in disbelief from the monitor slamming hist fist into a nearby tyre. To make maters worse his son’s closest rival for the F1 drivers’ title, Lando Norris went on to claim pole position ahead of George Russell.
Verstappen anger at race director
Max was giving a media briefing before the final session even began blasting the red flag chaos as “ridiculous” and “stupid” accusing the race directors’ decision to allow certain drivers to finish their lap as “bullshit.”
“A car hits the wall and it needs to be a straight red [flag]. I do not understand why it needs to take 30 or 40 seconds for a red flag to come out, it is just bullshit,” Max said. “Honestly, I will let it go. It is so stupid anyway to talk about, it is ridiculous.”
Christian Horner too was livid with the FIA officials decision making. “I don’t understand why it took so long for the red flag to come out. It’s obviously a big accident at Turn 3, one of the most dangerous corners on the circuit, it took 40 seconds to throw the red flag and it’s the second day in a row now where we’ve had very late calls whether it was the VSC yesterday or the red flag today. The other red flags were all instantaneous,” said Horner.
“All you have to do is focus on the safety, it’s not about letting cars finish laps. As soon as you have an accident like that, it should be an instant red flag,” fumed the Red Bull boss.
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Red Bull misguided analysis
Whether the fifty seconds delay put Stroll in grave danger is something for the FIA to explain, but Verstappen and Homer’s ire is misguided because the timing of the red flag did not affect Max’s starting position in any way.
With 1m38s on the clock, the yellow flag was thrown with Charles Leclerc fast approaching the finishing line. Two seconds later the Ferrari driver displaced Verstappen from P10. Horner made the additional point that even had Verstappen dropped outside the top ten, had the red flag come earlier, the team could have sent their star driver out for one final lap in Q2, but in reality this may not have been possible.
As world champions, Red Bull decide which of the pit lane garages they wish to occupy during Grand Prix weekends and the default choice in recent years has been to select the first garage closes to the pit entry. This eliminates the chance that one of the Red Bull drivers being held up by another when coming in for a pit stop but in Brazil this proved to be problematic in terms of the time it takes to get to the pit lane exit.
However, this pit lane slot became problematic for Red Bull in Sao Paulo as the cars repeatedly lined up early at the other end to Red Bull, for what became seven green lit sessions across the whole of qualifying.
Mercedes pit lane start in Brazil
Red Bull pit location problematic
Horner noted they had problems in getting track position because of this given “as soon as we fire up out engines, everyone else follows suit.” George Russell was at the pit lane exit for the final restart almost five minutes before the session was set to resume, suffering the loss of critical temperatures with the tyres out of their warmers.
Red Bull had been forced in Q2 to join the circuit with most of their rivals already on track. The dash to be first in the pit lane queer was vital to gain track position and not be affected by another causing a caution.
So even had Q2 been red flagged instantly, the drivers had been circulating in around 1m26s, with Red Bull at the far end of the pit lane, they did not have time to get out and to the start line before the clock ran out.
The reality of Max’s troubles though came down to the fact he was one of the last cars to make it out on track following the previous red flag. He was immediately behind Lance Stroll, with the two Alpine’s and Perez following the world champion.
RBR lose GPS data
As Verstappen was beginning his push lap he was surprised by Ocon overtaking him and so Max was forced to abandon the lap. “We got compromised on the first lap,” Christian Horner confirmed, “Esteban Ocon passing Max into the first turn.”
Ocon down in P15 had been harrying his team mate Pierre Gasly and finally he made a move at the final turn before the long run up to the start/finish line. As he accelerated up the hill he closed quickly on Verstappen who appeared unaware of what was about to happen.
Ocon made the move into turn one forcing Verstappen to abandon his lap and this which was the root of Max’s later difficulties. The Alpine driver may have been issuing some justice from his perspective following an incident which happened between the pair at Interlagos some six years ago in 2018.
Red Bull were having other issues with their GPS data which tells them where each of the cars is positioned on track. As Max bailed out of a lap stuck behind Ocon he told his race engineer, “You need to help me with gaps.” Lambiase replied: “Yeah I’ve lost GPS, Max.”
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Max costly battle with Alpine
Verstappen found some space as he started his third full lap but was quickly presented with the spray and carbon fibre from Lance Strolls car which had a big hit in turn three. As he passed the stricken Aston Martin driver who was still trying to engage his car in gear, Max was audibly upset over team radio complaining “Ah there’s a crash!” he exclaimed. “Fuck!”
It was his tussle with Ocon that cost Verstappen as the French driver flew past Max into turn one. This was almost identical to a situation which occurred back in 2018 where Ocon nipped ahead of Max into turn one during the first qualifying session.
Back then Verstappen retaliated by by taking the inside line at turn one which compromised Esteban Ocon who then missed out on Q2.
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Race control slow to act in 2024
While questions remain why a red flag was thrown over 50 seconds after the Stroll incident, although this is not the first time this season there has been such an inordinate delay from the FIA officials.
There have been a number of examples this year where race control has been criticised for being slow to deploy the VSC, saeetcars and red flags. In Baku, Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez had a big coming together around the tight and twisty sector one leaving the circuit littered with debris. Yet it was more than a minute before race control intervened.
It important the FIA explain themselves and the decisions from the race director and stewards, if Red Bull and Max Verstappen are to be satisfied they are not repeatedly, even deliberately as they believe, to be on the wrong side of subjective decisions being made.
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Horner accuses F1 race director of ‘negligence’
The scheduling of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix will once again come under scrutiny given that the month of November in that part of the world sees heavy rain every three days. Qualifying on Saturday was delayed several times until light became an issue which forced the session to be postponed until Sunday morning.
The last word from Sky who were broadcasting late into the evening on Saturday was that qualifying would most likely be run at 9am local time. Race control in fact made the late decision that qualifying would begin an hour and a half earlier at 07:30 and the Grand Prix was moved two hours forward, one more than the Sky F1 team had predicted.
As qualifying commenced it quickly became clear why the session was abandoned on Saturday evening, as in the much improved conditions on Sunday, chaos reigned. Red flags were rife with Franco Colapinto exiting early in Q1 after a mistake in the wet… READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
