Verstappen breaks silence on Q3 crash: 'This one was not controllable at all'

The Dutchman initially appeared to have made a mistake, but it later emerged that an issue with active aerodynamics caused him to crash heavily during qualifying, making it impossible for him to keep control of the car before hitting the barriers.

Speaking with GPBlog after qualifying, Verstappen explained that the car suddenly became uncontrollable as soon as he turned into Turn 9, despite not having changed anything in the setup. He said there had still been margin to push a little harder, but the rear gave way immediately, adding that while oversteer can usually be caught, this particular snap was impossible to recover from.

The Dutchman came within 0.040s of being eliminated in Q2, scraping through as the final driver to reach Q3 ahead of Pierre Gasly in a bid to preserve an extra set of soft tyres and mount a two-run challenge for pole.

Reflecting on his qualifying, Verstappen said his first Q3 lap had probably been the team's best of the weekend. However, he admitted it was likely never going to be enough before the final run, partly because of what had already happened in Turn 6. Even so, he felt a strong qualifying result had still been possible, while acknowledging that Mercedes had looked a little too strong through the high-speed corners.