Max Verstappen will start the Brazilian Grand Prix in 16th after a shock early exit from qualifying on Saturday.
The Dutchman, unhappy with his Red Bull car all weekend, struggled for pace and grip in Q1 and could not improve his time with a third and final run, in a huge blow to his hopes of claiming a fifth successive title. Meanwhile, championship leader Lando Norris took pole position, with Oscar Piastri only fourth.
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The four-time F1 world champion said over the radio to his race engineer: “Oh my god mate – the car and the ride is a tiny bit better… but the slide into turn one.
“I have no grip, zero! Brilliant!”
It’s Verstappen’s first Q1 elimination, on pure speed, in his F1 career, with all his other Q1 exits coming courtesy of power unit failures. His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was also eliminated in the first phase of qualifying.
“It was just bad,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1. “I couldn’t push at all, the car was all over the place, sliding a lot. Under-driving a lot, just to not have a moment – that doesn’t work around here.
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“We first have to analyse what is going on – I don’t understand how it can be this bad.”
Verstappen’s outspoken father, Jos, left the Red Bull garage abruptly following his son’s early exit.
Despite his lowly position, Verstappen can take some comfort from his win in the rain at Interlagos last year, from 17th on the grid. However, no heavy rain is currently forecast for Sunday’s race.
“We have been unhappy with the car since we got here,” said Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies. “It’s fair to say we took some more risk before qualifying to put the car in a better place but it obviously took the car in the other direction.
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“It’s painful but something we can learn from.”
Lewis Hamilton was also knocked out before the top-10 shootout, only managing to qualify 13th-fastest on another tough weekend for the Ferrari driver.
Verstappen earlier finished fourth in the sprint race, losing ground to winner Norris, who extended his lead to nine points ahead of McLaren teammate Piastri.
