Red Bull's Christian Horner furious at red flag timing that cost Max Verstappen during the F1 Brazilian GP qualifying

Red Bull Christian Horner was furious at the timing of the red flag during Qualifying at the Brazilian GP that cost Max Verstappen a place in Q3. The session was run in wet conditions, resulting in drivers' positions on track during the session being extremely important in helping them stay above the relegation zone.

After making his way through Q1 comfortably, Verstappen was one of the drivers caught out by the red flag in Q2 as Lance Stroll went off track and crashed in the first sector. The yellow flag was waived with 1 minute and 37 seconds left in the session. At this moment, Verstappen was P10.

The race director brought out the yellow flag instead of the direct red flag because Stroll was trying to recover from the crash and get back to the pits. By 1:33 left, seconds, Max Verstappen had been demoted to P11 but it took the director 40 more seconds to bring out the red flag.

This meant that the Red Bull driver couldn't start another lap and was hence eliminated. If the red flag had been brought out immediately with 1:37 left in the session, Verstappen would likely have reached Q3, but because of the delay, he was knocked out.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner was furious at the turn of events and questioned the decision. He told Sky Sports,

"It's hugely frustrating. A session like that there's obviously a huge amount going on. We don't understand why it took so long for it [the red flag] to come out. It was obviously a big accident, one of the most dangerous corners on the circuit, 40 seconds it took to throw the red flag. It's the second day in a row now that we have had very late calls, whether it was the VSC yesterday or the red flag today. The other red flags were all instantaneous."

---

Max Verstappen would have been through if the red flag came earlier, says Christian Horner

Horner further added that an immediate red flag would have meant that Max Verstappen would have been through or had the chance to do another lap. With that opportunity taken away, the driver was hamstrung into a more compromised start. He said,

"Very, very harsh but it is what it is and we've got to try and fight back this afternoon. As soon as you have an accident like that it should be an immediate red flag. If they had red-flagged it immediately Max would have been 10th and he would have had time for another lap. We would like to understand the thinking of the race director to understand why it took so long to throw that red flag."

To make things worse for the Red Bull garage, Max Verstappen's title rival Lando Norris nailed his Q3 session and will be starting the race from pole position. However, in such tricky conditions, it will be hard to make a clear-cut prediction because anything can go wrong while at the same time any driver could put in a possible drive of the season.