Max Verstappen delivered an ominous warning to Lando Norris after causing the Red Bull driver to lose time in the closing stages of qualifying for the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix.
The Dutchman ended the day in second place at the Marina Bay Circuit, unable to better a blistering time set by Mercedes’ George Russell, who claimed pole.
Verstappen missed out by just under two tenths and was on a make or break final flying lap as the chequered flag fell.
But in the final sector, Norris, who had already completed his final run – finishing up in fifth – was on his slow in-lap, and inadvertently put Verstappen in dirty air, who backed off as he rounded the final corner as Norris pulled into the pits.
After qualifying, Verstappen, speaking in the parc ferme interviews, bemoaned the McLaren driver’s actions, and made the cryptic remark.
“Yeah, that’s what happens when there is a car just cruising two seconds in front,” he said. “So that’s noted, will be remembered.”
Verstappen: Norris incident ‘could have been avoided’
In the press conference shortly afterwards, Verstappen explained further to media including Motorsport Week that, in his view, Norris had not left a sufficient gap to avoid ruining his bid for pole.
“In qualifying, you always try to leave gaps of six, seven seconds at least, because you want no disturbance,” he said.
“Normally, of course, in Q3 you don’t see a car, unless you’re on a different programme, but I think around here it’s quite clear what you want to do, so you leave quite big gaps, everyone.
“But then, of course, sometimes it happens on the street circuit that people are bored, make mistakes. So, yeah, when you then get a car two, three seconds in front of you, I mean, you need every kind of clean air that you can have on a Q3 lap, especially because you’re fully on the limit with braking and everything.
“And, yeah, I lost a bit of downforce with that, so I went straight on. Yeah, that’s it.”
Verstappen added: “I think it’s quite clear that that’s something that is not nice when it happens to someone. I think, in general, we’re always quite good at that.
“All the drivers, we try to stay out of the way. I mean, sometimes, of course, it’s always a bit more complicated in certain scenarios.
“So, every scenario is a bit different. But, in this case, in Q3, with only 10 cars on the track, I think it could have been avoided”
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