Once again, little is going on for Max Verstappen in Singapore. Pole goes to Carlos Sainz. A violent accident causes an interruption.
For Max Verstappen, Singapore remains a cursed place: he complained angrily over the radio and, completely disappointed, he stomped into the motorhome after the early exit.
The 25-year-old Dutchman is threatened with the end of his record series after ten Grand Prix successes in a row. The competition is hoping more than ever for the first victory of a non-Red Bull driver this year at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
On a day to forget for the industry leader, Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Pérez also failed in the desperate fight to at least get into the top ten – for the first time since Russia 2018. In a rousing, surprising and sometimes chaotic and dangerous qualification with a difficult one Accident Carlos Sainz raced to pole like he did two weeks ago in Monza.
Hülkenberg in the top ten
His Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc came third. George Russell pushed in between them in the Mercedes. Nico Hülkenberg also made it into the top ten in the Haas in ninth place after a serious crash involving Lance Stroll caused a longer interruption.
Verstappen didn’t exude a lot of confidence even before the start of the knockout phase. His interim conclusion: “The weekend has been problematic so far.” But he had no idea that it would be so bad on Saturday. “It’s strange,” said Red Bulls team boss Christian Horner on the pay TV channel Sky. “The race will be tough.” Especially since Verstappen also has to expect penalties; he was investigated in three cases. “Certainly not,” Verstappen commented on his chances of winning: “We have to understand why we were so bad.”
The Dutchman, who has otherwise been so dominant this year, had not come first in any of the previous three training sessions. The deficit, especially on the two Ferrari drivers, is sometimes clear. “Unacceptable,” he complained in the one-hour practice session before qualifying because of problems with gear shifting.
But it wasn’t just a strenuous hunt for a starting position for Verstappen. 9 p.m. local time and the air temperature is still 30 degrees and the humidity is 78 percent. Various ice barrels were already ready for the drivers in the paddock. But the cooling down still had to wait. When it started, nobody wanted to waste much time.
Stroll after crash: “I’m okay”
On a narrow street circuit like in Singapore there is always the risk of interruptions due to accidents. There was a lot of activity on the slightly modified and faster 4.94 kilometer course. “There are so many cars,” Verstappen raged.
One of them didn’t quite make it back into the box. When the time had already expired, Stroll crashed his Aston Martin into the barriers at high speed just before the finish line. The car was thrown back onto the track, the nose was completely destroyed, the left wheel suspension and half of the side pod were torn off or severely demolished. “I’m okay,” reassured Stroll, who got out without help but was first examined at the medical center along the route. It remains to be seen whether he will be able to start this Sunday (2 p.m. CEST) after the severe impact.
Because a lot of fluid had leaked out of the car and the barriers had to be rebuilt, the interruption lasted a good half hour. Time for Verstappen to cool down a bit after various rants over the radio. However, it then came out that he was being investigated. Despite the green lights in the pit lane, he initially didn’t drive off. And Verstappen also came into the focus of the race stewards because of a possible hindrance to his Alpha Tauri colleague Yuki Tsunoda.
Source: Stern
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