VIDEO | Verstappen rages over team radio after failed qualifying

17-07-2021 07:21 Last update: 17-07-2021 09:18
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GPblog.com

Despite cashing in the second place on the grid for the sprint race and his minimal gap to Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen's result in Friday's qualifying must have felt like a loss. This is confirmed by the Dutchman's team radio after it became clear to him that his final time was not fast enough to beat Hamilton's flying lap.

Verstappen expressed his disappointment to his engineers in no uncertain terms on Friday. After being the fastest man on track in the first free practice as well as in Q1 and Q2, he saw Hamilton dig deep and edge ahead in the final session. The Dutchman was just one tenth of a second off the front of the grid in sprint qualifying.

After the session, Verstappen admitted that he was experiencing problems with the setup of his car, which was reflected by heavy understeer in certain areas of the track.

Everything to play for

The Dutchman will be happy with the fact that all the points for the weekend are still to be scored, and with his spot on the front row of the grid nothing is lost, although more difficult than he would have preferred.