Max Verstappen has rued a potential lost pole position at the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix after a costly mistake at Turn 13 in the dying seconds of Q3.
Verstappen lit up the timing screens in the dying seconds of Q3, setting a purple sector two, well within the window to deny Lewis Hamilton pole postion.
But upon entering the stadium complex, he encountered a slow moving Lando Norris, resulting on a lock up into Turn 13, forcing him to abandon his lap.
Qualifying fourth, he will start the race from fifth after incurring a one-place grid penalty after contact with Liam Lawson during practice on Friday.
After the session, Verstappen remained philosophical, explaining what happened when he encountered the slow-moving McLaren.
Well, I arrived at 12 and I see a car still in front of me, so that’s already where you don’t lose time, he said to media, including Motorsport Week.
“With the dirty air, and then I see also then the car parking it on the right, which in that corner you don’t want. Because I arrived at 13, already doing a bit of a different line, you lose your reference, because you always have your references when you brake and there’s a car so you cannot see it
“So when you are of course on the limit in qualifying and you lose all these kind of things, and the angle of the car is a bit different, that makes you lock-up.”
Max Verstappen happy with Red Bull turnaround
Verstappen spoke of his frustrations at losing a potentially better result, given the work Red Bull put into transforming the competitiveness of his RB22.
“Not really, I mean we were not really happy with the car, we made it a lot better in qualifying and that’s why it matters.
“If you call messing qualifying, that’s what it is. It’s life as well, it’s not really messy, it just happens.”
The four-time world champion may be starting out of position, but given the speed he demonstrated in qualifying, a good start could put him into contention for a top three finish.
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