Max Verstappen’s first flying lap in Q3 was enough to secure pole position for the United States Grand Prix.
It’s a good job it was, as it turned out to be the only lap he did. As he accelerated out of turn 20 to begin his final lap, the lights turned red above the starting gantry signalling the end of the session.
How did he run afoul of something so simple? Did Red Bull get their timings wrong or was Verstappen the victim of a driver ahead taking too long to start their lap and delaying the others? Could it even have been a ploy by one of Verstappen’s championship rivals to compromise his bid for pole position?
After qualifying Verstappen claimed he had been held up by other drivers leaving excessively large gaps to the cars in front of them as they began their laps. As a result, he ran out of time to complete his out-lap before starting his final run.
“There were some people in front that were just leaving like 10 seconds, easily,” said Verstappen. “So then you just run out of time.
“I had two cars in front of me, they were racing as well. I think they set purple sectors on the out lap. That’s not ideal.”
The drivers at the rear of the field became tight for time as the queue spread out unevenly after Charles Leclerc led them out for their final Q3 runs. Lewis Hamilton followed eight seconds behind his team mate but Oliver Bearman took 20 seconds to cross the pit lane exit line. George Russell and Carlos Sainz Jnr came next, waiting a more typical 12 and nine seconds respectively.
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Lando Norris dawdled just as long as Bearman at the pit exit. Was he trying to delay Verstappen behind him? If so he did it without any guidance from his team, as he received no messages about the timings as he queued in the pit lane. Oscar Piastri followed his team mate out quickly, just six seconds behind.
But Andrea Kimi Antonelli took his time as Norris and Bearman did, lingering for 19 seconds while Fernando Alonso sat behind him. The last driver to leave his garage, Verstappen, joined them.
Alonso had grown increasingly concerned about running out of time as he sat in the queue of cars in the pit exit. His race engineer Andrew Vizard kept him in the picture, and when he realised how tight things were getting, he stuck close to Antonelli as they left the pits and immediately passed the Mercedes:
| Vizard | There’s no-one behind so we can switch off. We’ll be tight on timing, be aware. |
| Vizard | So we’ve got 50 seconds to the Safety Car time. |
| Vizard | The only car behind you will be Verstappen, he’s not left the garage yet. |
| Vizard | 30 seconds, Safety Car time. |
| Vizard | First car, Leclerc, between 11 and 12 now. |
| Vizard | 20 seconds. |
| Vizard | 10 seconds. |
| Alonso | I cannot make it. Why the car in front stops? Are we allowed? |
| Vizard | No, shouldn’t be stopping. Let’s go, let’s go. Alonso leaves the pits immediately behind Antonelli and overtakes him at turn one |
| Vizard | So Fernando timing should be just okay, so absolute worst case you need to be minus three at Safety Car [Line] one, but there’s no margin in that. |
| Alonso | I will need the countdown. |
| Vizard | You can use energy, we will give you the countdown. |
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“Alonso’s up to his old tricks,” remarked Antonelli’s race engineer Peter Bonnington. Antonelli complained his rival crossed a boundary line while overtaking him, though this wasn’t a breach of the rules.
Alonso’s decision to pass Antonelli was vindicated as the Mercedes driver, now running in the queue position previously occupied by the Aston Martin, only narrowly managed to start his final lap in time. This was partly because he had to slow down near the end of his out-lap in order to let Leclerc pass him as the Ferrari driver completed his flying lap:
| Bonnington | Make sure you build a nice big gap. Norris leaves ahead of him, followed by Piastri |
| Bonnington | Let’s get going. You’ve got Alonso behind pushing you. Alonso passes him |
| Bonnington | You can be minus three on the delta. Yeah, Alonso’s up to his old tricks. |
| Antonelli | He crossed the white line. |
| Bonnington | Okay. So target plus seven. |
| Bonnington | So just target minus four on your dash. |
| Bonnington | So you’ve got six seconds ahead. |
| Bonnington | Five behind to Verstappen, he is also on an out-lap, first car will be Leclerc at 10, we’ll stay at minus four on your dash in the minimum. |
| Bonnington | We’re going to have Leclerc at five seconds, we’ve got four ahead, so let’s follow Alonso. Antonelli lets Leclerc through |
| Bonnington | So let’s stay ahead, keep going, come on. Follow Leclerc. |
| Bonnington | So follow Leclerc, just keep it in. |
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While others queued in the hot pit lane, Red Bull maximised the opportunity to keep Verstappen in the garage with his tyre blankets keeping his rubber close to the optimum temperatures. When he joined the pit lane he was not as aware as Alonso was how tight the timings had become, and slowed down before reaching the pit lane exit.
Verstappen had backed off for around 10 seconds when his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase warned him they couldn’t afford to wait. The situation temporarily improved when Verstappen picked up the pace on his out-lap, but then Leclerc caught him and the Red Bull driver’s situation became perilous.
When Antonelli slowed to let Leclerc by, Lambiase advised Verstappen to pass the Mercedes, but he couldn’t make it by. As he came out of the final corner they saw he wasn’t going to make it:
| Lambiase | So standard out-lap, expect it will concertina with the two cars ahead so we need to go. Currently behind schedule. Verstappen joins the track |
| Verstappen | Just keep me updated. |
| Lambiase | Exit turn one We’re currently behind. |
| Verstappen | How many seconds negative do I need to be my delta, to make it? |
| Lambiase | Turn nine So we’re currently four seconds short, but you’re recouping that as we speak. Leclerc is at six seconds, you will lose a little bit of time with that. I think he should be the only car you’ll have to let through. So from here you are safe, we’re now building margin. Like I say, you will lose a little bit of that to Leclerc. |
| Lambiase | Approaching turn 12 You’re right on it now, so back on pace please, Max, Leclerc three seconds. Leclerc 2.5. |
| Lambiase | Leclerc one second. Verstappen lets Leclerc through at turn 13. |
| Lambiase | Turn 14 We have no margin, you need to push from here, Max. |
| Verstappen | Turn 17 Keep me up to date. |
| Lambiase | Yeah Antonelli’s slowing up, so you just pass him if you need to. |
| Verstappen | Ah I’m… |
| Lambiase | Give yourself two seconds to Antonelli. Okay, you’ve got to go. |
| Lambiase | Exit turn 20 I think you’ll miss it, Max. I think you’ve missed it. Yeah we… [message appears to be censored] …get our thoughts on it. |
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Afterwards Verstappen suggested two drivers running slowly ahead of him had held him up. He was correct to point out one driver – Alonso – had to speed up so much that he set purple sector times at the end of his out-lap.
But Alonso had been more alert to how little time was left in the session than Antonelli. As they began their final laps Alonso was nine seconds behind Piastri, a typical gap, while Antonelli only narrowly got across the line in time while running just six seconds behind Alonso.
Red Bull took the risk of running last and lost out as a result of it. They could consider themselves fortunate Verstappen’s opening lap was so quick it didn’t matter.
However they will no doubt ask themselves how they managed to make the same mistake on consecutive days as Yuki Tsunoda was eliminated in the first round of sprint race qualifying after also failing to start his final lap in time.
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