Picture Credit: Twitter
As the Formula One action enters the final race of the season, the championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen is also going down the wire. It's been an action packed and dramatic year in Formula One but what happened at Jeddah circuit on Saturday was way beyond anyone's imagination.
Lewis Hamilton had taken the provisional pole and had completed his final lap. But Max Verstappen was yet to come out on track for his last flying lap. It turned out to be one of the most dramatic qualifying laps of the season and Fernando Alonso's live and candid reaction was captured on the camera.
Alonso's live reactions captured on camera
Alonso, who had qualified at P13, was getting ready for the post-qualifying interview. But he was also keeping an eye on what Verstappen was doing on the track. The Dutch got off to a scary start as he almost made contact with the wall on the first turn and Alonso's eyes were left wide open. "That was close, that was close," he said while looking at Daniel Ricciardo.
But Verstappen was absolutely flying and was almost up two-tenths of Hamilton's fastest lap and was cruising towards securing the pole position. Meanwhile, Alonso admitted that they can now start the interview and he was ready to talk. However, his attention was only on Max's magical lap. And as Alonso was talking, he saw Verstappen crashing on the final turn and forced to abort his lap.
The Spaniard literally looked stunned for a moment as he could not believe his eyes. Just like all the fans, it felt like Alonso could feel how big the incident could prove to be in the title race as he said, "Back to reality," before resuming his interview.
Watch the video here:
As a result, Verstappen had to settle for P3 with Hamilton taking pole position for Sunday's race. Reflecting on the same, Max said, "It’s of course terrible. But it was in general a good qualifying. I mean it was a bit hard to switch on the tyres around here on this street circuit but I knew the pace was there and it showed in the last lap."
“I don’t really understand what happened. I locked up, but I still tried to keep the car on the track, tried to finish the lap, but I clipped the rear and had to stop. P3 is a bit disappointing knowing what lap I was on. But nevertheless, it shows that the car is quick and let’s see what we can do in the race,” he added.