Verstappen gets angry in Japan: 'They can go suck on an egg'
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Max Verstappen's run of 10 wins in a row came to an end in Singapore, mainly due to the RB19's lacklustre performance in qualifying. A week later, however, everything is different again and Verstappen is 'just' back on top after qualifying in Japan. Verstappen let it be known in the post-qualifying press conference that he was very keen on revenge.
It was claimed by some that the RB19's poor performance at the Marina Bay Street Circuit was due to the introduction of the technical directive. This directive ensures that teams are more strictly checked for front and rear wing deflections. Red Bull already indicated that the off-week in Singapore had nothing to do with it, but not everyone wanted to believe that.
Verstappen proved himself on Saturday at Suzuka. "Honestly, we had a bad weekend. Of course, then people start talking about it's all because of the technical directives. I think they can go suck on an egg but from my side," Verstappen argued. "From my side, I was just very fired up to have a good weekend here and make sure that we were strong."
Verstappen at lonely height
In that aim, the two-time world champion succeeded along with Red Bull. The 25-year-old Dutchman was just under six tenths faster than runner-up Oscar Piastri. Teammate Sergio Perez was even on eight tenths (and a disappointing P5).
Did Verstappen surprise himself? "It's always difficult to judge, but after P3, I was like, ‘they're quite close’ but then luckily, I think we made some tiny adjustments and I think it helped the car a little bit. Then probably in Sector 1, once you feel very confident with the car, you can push it a little bit more and that's what happened in qualifying."