F1 News
Bad luck for Verstappen: This is why race officials waited to red flag
- Ludo van Denderen
Max Verstappen was furious about it and Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner did not understand a thing: Why did it take no less than 40 seconds for the race control to wave the red flag after Lance Stroll crashed? By the time it did, Verstappen was unable to finish his lap AND there was no time left for another qualifying attempt. It is now clear why things went the way they did in Brazil.
It was suggested that the FIA decided to wait with a red flag so that drivers sitting before the incident could finish their laps. But that is not the case. Race control waited because it could see through Stroll's telemetry that the Canadian was still trying to get his car back on the track and then the pit lane.
Aston Martin did not want to wait
Indeed, Stroll had been instructed by his team to take his Aston Martin back to the pits, knowing that every minute that could be used to repair the car was one. Aston Martin preferred not to wait until the car had been driven back to the paddock.
However, Stroll did not manage to bring the car back as there was too much damage to the suspension. The moment the race control realised this too, the decision was made to take out the red flag. For Verstappen, that was just a nasty moment, as it left him stuck in Q2.
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy