Having set off on a flying lap, Verstappen’s revs shot up as he approached the fast hairpin at the furthest point on the circuit, slowing to a crawl as he gingerly made his way back to the pits to climb out – his qualifying session done with no chance of having the problem fixed in time to get back out. The reigning World Champion will start Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from 15th on the grid, having been knocked out in Q2 after being unable to put in a laptime due to a suspected driveshaft failure on his RB19. With the narrow track and few passing points, making overtaking difficult, and the low tyre degradation auguring for a single-stop strategy, track position will be vital and Hamilton has the advantage of pole and his teammate at his back.Red Bull’s Christian Horner says his team had no reliability concerns ahead of qualifying, revealing the reason for Max Verstappen’s gearbox change. He leads Hamilton by eight points and can take it this weekend in three ways: if he wins and scores the fastest lap and Hamilton finishes sixth or lower if he wins without the fastest lap and Hamilton finishes seventh or lower or if he outscores Hamilton by 18 points.Ĭertainly Hamilton holds the whip hand. Verstappen can still clinch the title in Saudi Arabia, though that now looks a major task. It was a disaster that may yet be compounded if he has to take a new gearbox because of damage and receive a grid penalty.Ī win for Hamilton at Jeddah would guarantee the championship will head to a finale at Abu Dhabi and, if Hamilton also scores fastest lap to a second place for Verstappen, the two rivals would go into the decider equal on points. He was over two-tenths up only to lock-up and brush the wall on the final corner. He put in a 1min 27.511sec but Verstappen pushed in response and was on fire. Hamilton went out first on the final runs and this time he was feeling the grip and was especially strong through the final two sectors, sweeping though the sequence of undulating left and right hand curves. Photograph: Andrej Isaković/AFP/Getty Images Max Verstappen exits his car after hitting the wall. He set a time of 1min 27.653sec, a fearsome target almost four-tenths up on Hamilton. However, Verstappen was immense on his first hot lap, threading the needle between the walls of this testing circuit with inch-perfect precision. He stayed out to put in another run and this time was clean. Hamilton made an error on his first hot lap in Q3, briefly losing the rear, and had to abort his quick lap. It had been difficult to call between the two drivers throughout until the decisive minutes. At least it seems like we can fight here.” “We had a good car, everything seemed to be coming together, in Q3 it was good but unfortunately I couldn’t finish the lap. “It’s extremely disappointing,” said Verstappen. For the title these moments may prove vital with Hamilton’s attempt to take an eighth Formula One world championship still very much in his own hands. On the very edge for 26 corners it was nail-biting but superb, only for him to take too much on the very final bend. Verstappen has pushed hard all season and he was once more absolutely on the limit on his final lap. If Max had finished his lap he would have been ahead.” “This was heart in your mouth for all of us. “It was intense but enjoyable,” said Hamilton, who described his car as being on a knife-edge. He was classified only in third behind Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas. Cleared of any offences, however, he delivered with great execution, but it might so easily have belonged to Verstappen, who clipped a wall on his last lap when on for taking pole. Hamilton had endured nervy moments before qualifying awaiting a steward’s decision in Jeddah, when the world champion’s hopes for a win and his championship ambitions hung in the balance.
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