Drivers' championship leader was set to take pole in Singapore but was told to return to the pits to avoid dropping under fuel limits. He needs to outscore Charles Leclerc by 22 points to take title; Watch race live at 1pm on Sky Sports F1, with build-up from 11.30am
Sunday 2 October 2022 10:49, UK
Max Verstappen lashed out at his Red Bull team after being forced to abort his final two qualifying laps in Singapore.
The Dutchman will start the race in eighth and his hopes of sealing a second drivers' championship on Sunday have been severely dented after his team made a late decision to call him into the pits when he seemed set to challenge the fastest time of pole-sitter Charles Leclerc.
Red Bull told Verstappen to abort his penultimate lap to get track position for a final pole push and data showed he was just seconds away from snatching pole on his final run.
However, the team became concerned he wouldn't have enough fuel for post-session scrutineering and told him to return to the pitlane.
"I don't get it, mate. What the **** is this about," raged the driver over team radio - and his mood had not improved when he spoke to Sky Sports after the session.
"I felt good on the lap before, but then they told me to abort, so okay, we did that, and then on the final lap they told me to box and I realised what was going to happen," he said.
"We ran out of fuel. It's just incredibly frustrating and shouldn't happen. 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.
"We should have seen that way earlier. I'm not happy at all at the moment.
"Of course, it's always a team effort. I can make mistakes and the team can make mistakes, but it's never acceptable.
"Of course you learn from it, but this is really bad to be honest. It shouldn't happen."
Verstappen needs to outscore Leclerc by 22 points and Sergio Perez by 13 points to secure the drivers' title in Singapore, a scenario that feels unlikely with both of his rivals starting on the front row.
He has won all of the last five races, despite starting outside the top six in two of them, but does not think it will be easy to push his way to the front in Singapore.
"It's a bit like Monaco. It's super-hard to pass," he added. "You can maybe do a little bit with strategy, but at the moment I'm not really in the mood to think about the race.
"Once I jump in the car I will always give it, of course, my very best but at the moment I am super frustrated with what just happened."
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner confirmed to Sky Sports that Verstappen was 1.5 seconds up on pole position on his aborted sixth flying lap and admitted his team had made a mistake in monitoring fuel levels.
He also backed Verstappen to take advantage of potential wet conditions in what is one of the most gruelling and unpredictable races on the calendar.
"It was our mistake," Horner said. "With the track ramping up, we assumed five laps was the maximum we could do and we actually managed to get in a position where we won ourselves a sixth lap.
"Fuel was going to be too close to the limit and rather than starting from the pitlane, we elected to abort the lap which is obviously massively frustrating for Max and for the whole team.
"It relegates him to eighth, but it's better than starting from the pitlane.
"With the pace we had, I'm sure we can make great progress from there. It makes life a lot harder with the nature of the circuit here, but what we've seen with these cars this year is you can overtake.
"You can make progress and one thing we'll know with Max is he'll give it everything. It's a tough race, the longest and hardest race of the year. The weather could do something interesting as well, so there's going to be plenty of opportunities."
Sky Sports analyst Ted Kravitz said Verstappen was noticeably annoyed by the rare Red Bull error, as he seeks to achieve an unassailable lead over Leclerc and Perez in the title race.
"I was kind of surprised at how angry Max was about it. Even though he's under no pressure for the championship whatsoever, he wants to deliver his best," Kravitz said.
"He wants to win the race and see what happens to Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez, and whether all the permutations happen.
"Then it doesn't happen and he seemed to go off the scale with how angry he was. I can understand that he's angry, he's buzzed for the session and then it doesn't happen for him because the team have made a mistake on figuring out the fuel.
"They can say it's better they did it and he can finish up P8. If they don't get a fuel sample then Max can say it's more of a team mistake.
"I can understand why he was so annoyed."
Singapore GP starting grid
1) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
2) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
3) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
4) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
5) Fernando Alonso, Alpine
6) Lando Norris, McLaren
7) Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri
8) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
9) Kevin Magnussen, Haas
10) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri
11) George Russell, Mercedes
12) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
13) Mick Schumacher, Haas
14) Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin
15) Zhou Guanyou, Alfa Romeo
16) Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
17) Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
18) Esteban Ocon, Alpine
19) Alex Albon, Williams
20) Nicholas Latifi, Williams
Watch the Singapore Grand Prix from 11.30am on Sky Sports F1, with lights out at 1pm
