Dutch F1 driver Max Verstappen had a ballistic reaction when his team, Red Bull racing asked him to pull out of the final qualifying lap at the Singapore Grand Prix. The defending F1 champion was nearing the pole over Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, teammate Sergio Perez and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.
The Dutchman had an explosive reaction as he was on a much-improved lap in the dying moments of a wet-dry qualifying session at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. But then Red Bull engineers asked Verstappen to abort his lap and come back into the pits. The 25-year-old was furious as he yelled some abuses on the team radio.
After the qualification, Verstappen addressed the reason behind the call and confirmed that the car was low on fuel and hence it couldn’t have adhered to the mandatory post-qualifying sample. He further expressed anger and frustration with the mistake.
"We ran out of fuel. It's just incredibly frustrating and shouldn't happen," said Verstappen. “The team had sent him out with enough fuel for five laps in the final qualifying run but Verstappen went for a sixth, backing off his previous lap to take advantage of the evolving track conditions.
"When you under-fuel it or you don't plan to do six laps, then at least you track it throughout the session that you're not going to make it," said Verstappen, who said he could have taken pole had he been informed of the fuel situation.
He then talked about how the team should have allowed him to complete the lap as he could have taken the pole for the main race of GP. "They should have let me finish the lap before where I think we were already on a pole position lap," said Verstappen. "I can't see how much fuel is in the car, but we have all the sensors in the world to track these things.
"We should have seen that way earlier. I'm not happy at all at the moment," he seethed. "Of course, it's always a team effort. I can make mistakes and the team can make mistakes, but it's never acceptable. You learn from it, but this is really bad to be honest. It shouldn't happen."