Max Verstappen’s disastrous elimination in the first round of qualifying at Interlagos clearly caught Red Bull by surprise.
The world champion was not happy with his car’s performance in the sprint race earlier in the day. But he had been able to qualify sixth on the grid, three tenths of a second off pole-winner Lando Norris.
Team principal Laurent Mekies later admitted the team chose an aggressive set-up change between the sprint race and qualifying for the grand prix which left Verstappen unable to make the cut for Q2. His deficit to Norris ballooned to almost three-quarters of a second.
Even given the damp conditions in the sprint race, Verstappen’s RB21 looked a handful, particularly at turn one. He caught snaps of oversteer there on laps two, four and six.
Moments later Oscar Piastri spun into the barrier at the exit of Curva do Sol. Verstappen almost lost control of his car at the same point in the corner, keeping it out of the barriers with an armful of opposite lock. The Safety Car was deployed moments later.
“The car is just bouncing everywhere,” Verstappen reported to race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. “It’s terrible, we can’t keep up.”
“Okay, we’re just going to try and get you through some recommendations for turn one,” Lambiase replied. “Turn one looks really poor.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free
“No, it’s just wet, I have no grip,” Verstappen answered, “it’s not the balance.” Lambiase appeared irked by this response and spoke over the driver as he replied: “Yes, so we are giving you recommendations so that you avoid oversteering into the corner every lap, Max.”
“Whether you take them or not, is up to you,” he added testily.
The race was red-flagged soon afterwards, which gave Red Bull the chance to conclude the conversation off-mic. Verstappen also swapped from the soft to the medium compound tyres for the restart.
He wasn’t able to gain any places, though that was true of many drivers in the sprint race. Red Bull remained unhappy with the car’s pace. “The majority of the three tenths delta to Antonelli is turns eight and nine,” Lambiase noted at one point. “In braking [for] turn one, we’re weaker than the cars ahead.”
After he took the chequered flag fourth, Mekies told Verstappen: “We know it’s not perfect, but we have something to work on for the rest of the weekend.” But as the team later admitted the changes they decided on for qualifying only made their problems worse.
Red Bull did not give the impression of a team desperately seeking a set-up solution as Q1 began. They were content to let all of their rivals hit the track before Verstappen, bar the Mercedes pair.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free
Verstappen’s first run, a 1’10.681, gave no obvious cause for concern. “You’re currently P4,” Lambiase told him. “Looks like the track is a little bit slower than expected,” he added.
However a flurry of quicker laps from other cars followed, and Verstappen tumbled down the order to 16th place. Red Bull sent him out for his final run early – so much so that he had the track to himself.
His lap began well, but the car caught him by surprise in the long left-hander Pinheirinho, where it snapped sideways. The resulting lap time was four hundredths of a second slower than his first, leaving him rooted in 16th place.
“Oh my god, mate, the car right now is a tiny bit better, but now I’m sliding even more,” Verstappen reported.
“For reference, Bearman P1, 9.8, you’re currently P16,” Lambiase replied. “Let us know if we can help you out with the tools.”
But Verstappen was stumped: “No, I don’t know what to tell you.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free
He had just one chance left to improve and enough time to drive two preparation laps in order to cool his tyres. But by now the track was filling up with other cars and as he prepared to start his final lap he had to let past other drivers who were trying to set times.
Verstappen’s final lap was clean, but not quick. He gained four tenths of a second in the middle sector compared to his previous run, though he gave away a tenth of a second across the rest of the lap. The result was a 1’10.403 which left him 0.066 seconds away from reaching Q2.
“I have no grip,” he told Lambiase on his way in. “Zero.”
Afterwards Verstappen said the car was “clearly worse” after the changes the team made between Saturday’s two sessions. “I had just no feeling.”
“The whole weekend has been already quite tough,” he told the official F1 channel, “but this is a bit unexpected, I would say, after changing quite a bit on the car.
“It was just not responding. I had no grip out there, so I had to really massively under-drive it, basically, and it just didn’t work.”
He has at least qualified one place higher than he did 12 months ago, when he dropped out in Q2 and had to take a grid penalty. Red Bull will surely now be tempted to make further changes to his car and start him from the pit lane, potentially with the added benefit of a fresh power unit. “We’ll look at all of that tonight,” he said.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
2025 Brazilian Grand Prix
Browse all 2025 Brazilian Grand Prix articles