Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen has expressed his anger at his team following a mistake made in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix, round 17 of the 2022 F1 season.
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Verstappen showed strong speed at Marina Bay, and in the third qualifying session, which saw track conditions improve lap by lap, he was able to keep improving his pace.
On his penultimate lap, Verstappen was heading towards pole position, but was told by the team to slow down to ensure an extra lap seconds before qualifying.
On that last fast lap, once more, Verstappen’s speed was outstanding, but he was forced back into the pits because his car was nearly out of fuel, meaning he was only in eighth position.
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Verstappen was so angry following the session, he left the track without attending the engineers’ meeting with his team. But he spoke to the media following he got out of the car and said: “I felt that my performance was strong, on the last lap and even the lap before.”
He continued: “On the penultimate lap, the team asked me to slow down, slow down and give up the lap, and I did that.. Then, on the last lap, the team asked me to go back to the pits. It was then that I realized what had happened, that we were regarding to run out of fuel.”
He added, “It is very frustrating, and such things should not happen, even when using less fuel. Fuel had to be monitored throughout qualifying to ensure our scheme was completed. It should have been noticed earlier.”
He continued, “Honestly, I am not happy at all. I realize the team effort, I realize that there is the possibility of making mistakes, and the possibility of the team making mistakes, but these mistakes are not acceptable. Of course, we should learn from it, but what happened was very bad, and it should never have happened.”
