Christian Horner weeps at FIA after ‘extremely frustrating’ red flag for Red Bull

Christian Horner says he does not understand why there was such a delay in showing the red flag at a crucial moment in qualifying in Brazil.

Lance Stroll’s late crash played a part in both Red Bulls leaving in the second quarter, but it was race director Niels Wittich’s decision that ultimately sealed their fate.

Christian Horner stunned by race director’s red flag call

After rain fell on Saturday, F1 returned to Interlagos at 7:30am to begin qualifying, albeit under different conditions, although the weather was slightly better. fewer than five red flags during the long session.

While Lando Norris took pole position, there was anger in the Red Bull camp after a controversial call from the race director forced both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez out of the race in the second quarter.

With just under two minutes left in the second quarter, Stroll crashed in Turn 3, but it took 40 seconds for race director Wittich to signal the red flag, seemingly allowing teams like Norris to make a quick lap before neutralizing the race.

This angered Verstappen Horner agreed it didn’t make much sense.

“It’s extremely frustrating,” he told Sky F1. “Obviously, big things happen in a session like this. I don’t understand why it took so long for the red flag to go up.

“It’s clear that this was a major accident. Turn 3 is one of the most dangerous corners on the track. It took 40 seconds for the red flag to go out and it’s the second day in a row that we’ve had very late calls, whether it was the VSC yesterday or the red flag today.”

“The other red flags were all momentary. So look, I mean it’s very, very harsh, but you know, it is what it is. We’ve got to try to fight this afternoon.”

The fight will start with Verstappen far down the rankings, with Verstappen temporarily moving up to 16th while Perez moves up to 13th.

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A small saving grace is that the narrow gap between qualifying and the race means that some drivers who crash may not even start the race. Alex Albon was the first to say there was a lot of damage done to his Williams, but the team is yet to confirm that is the case.

Regarding the red flag incident, Horner reiterated that the focus should be on safety, not allowing drivers to complete their laps.

“You have to focus on safety. It’s not about whether you let the cars finish laps or not. When you have a crash like that you have to give a warning sign immediately because you’ve got a driver in the wall, it’s one of the most dangerous corners on the track, cars are going over it and you can do it. ‘Oh, well, Don’t say ‘we’ll wait for the others to finish their tour’.

“It doesn’t work that way.

“Lance Stroll wasn’t trying to restart that car. It was terrible. He hit the barrier hard. He was in the middle of the track at Turn 3, which was a red flag.

“If they had red flagged it immediately Max would have been 10th. If they had marked it right away, we’d have time for one more lap.”

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