After two purple sectors, everyone sat on the edge of their seats. Max Verstappen looked set to score pole position, but then went into a fog and hit the wall at the exit of the last corner.
Team boss Christian Horner is disappointed with the starting position, just like his Dutch driver, but remains positive. “That seemed to be the round of the year, but in the last corner it went wrong. Max wanted to keep the momentum, because he was 0.4 seconds ahead when entering the last corner.”
“Unfortunately, there was no asphalt left. It was real brutal, and let’s hope the gearbox isn’t damaged and then we’ll see what we can do on Sunday.”
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Verstappen won’t be happy
When asked how Verstappen will feel now, Horner is very clear. “He will be frustrated yes, no doubt. Max knows what a good lap it was, but he has to put it behind him now. He starts from P3, he has to start well and then anything can happen in this race.”
“It’s a real shame, because it was a mighty, mighty lap. We are now behind. He was doing something very special, but it wasn’t supposed to be. Hopefully we don’t get a penalty for a broken gearbox, because that would real brutal are,” said the Brit.
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Tough race ahead
On Sunday, Verstappen must limit the damage from P3. It will be tough, because according to Horner it is difficult to overtake in Saudi Arabia. “It will be difficult to overtake here, so it will come down to strategy, safety cars, reliability and so on. So we’ll see, but grid position is always crucial on street circuits.”
“We keep fighting. If Max had finished that lap we would have had a completely different conversation. We are going to give everything we have. It has not come our way today and that is sometimes part of it. We keep fighting, keep pushing and we will come back stronger on Sunday”, he ends combatively.
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