After the overwhelming power shown in all the free practice sessions, it was reasonable to expect a weekend dominated from start to finish by Max Verstappen in Jeddah. However, qualifying gave us a big twist and the reigning world champion will be forced to start from the 15th position on the grid.
The Dutchman was making his second attempt in Q2, after being forced to abort his first due to a drooling, when his Red Bull suddenly slowed down with what appeared to be a gearbox problem.
Max managed to bring the car back to the pits, but it only took a few seconds for the mechanics to understand that there was nothing they could do in the very few minutes left. So, he got out of the cockpit to go to the usual interviews, where he explained what broke on his RB19.
“It wasn’t a problem with the gearbox, but with a drive shaft, the one on the rear right broke. It’s not ideal, but unfortunately these are things that sometimes happen and today it happened to me”, explained Max.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Now the weekend is going uphill, even if Verstappen believes a lot in the potential of his single-seater. However, to recover from 15th place on the grid it will also be essential to stay out of trouble in the early stages, because the walls in Jeddah are very narrow and treacherous.
“We have a good car, it was very fast every time we took to the track, even if it’s a little more difficult to get up front now. Without a doubt, I want to bring home some points, but I don’t know how many positions I will be able to recover. It will be important do a clean first lap and stay out of trouble, which isn’t easy here, then I’ll try to reassemble”.
However, by asking him if he still believes victory is possible, the champion’s pride came out: “On this circuit, everything is possible. We’ve seen a lot of crazy things, but we have to remain realistic. In short, it’s going to be tough. But we have good pace, so we will definitely come back.”
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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
