Verstappen explains Red Bull mistake: 'We were a little surprised by that'

Max Verstappen was understandably furious when he was told to abort his potential pole lap during qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix. The championship leader can therefore have little sympathy for the fact that his team only noticed the mistake so late.

Verstappen acknowledged that Red Bull Racing was surprised by the mistake, but believes the team could have seen much earlier that there would not be enough fuel left in the tank. "We were a little surprised by the additional lap at the end, we didn’t expect to have to do that," the Dutchman explained in a Red Bull press release.

Verstappen was already well underway on the previous lap, but broke off his lap before starting the last one. "It might have been pole. In hindsight we should have finished the penultimate lap, instead I had to abort two laps," the reigning World Champion continued. However, he added that it is always easy to judge in hindsight.

What he doesn't understand, however, is the fact that his team only noticed the misjudgement so late since it "all the sensors in the world to track these kinds of things". "Even when you under-fuel it, or when you don’t plan to do that sixth lap, you track that through the session," he explained to The Race.

Asked about his open criticism of Red Bull, Verstappen says that works both ways. That way, team and driver keep each other on their toes in the joint pursuit of perfection. "We don't want to be good, we want to be perfect," Verstappen said.