Max Verstappen fumes at two F1 drivers as Red Bull star loses patience in FP1
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Max Verstappen was left furious in the cockpit when he was blocked by two drivers in FP1 at the Dutch Grand Prix. The 25-year-old is the hot favourite to win his home race at Zandvoort as he chases down a third straight Drivers’ Championship title.
Verstappen was the quickest driver on track in FP1, edging out Fernando Alonso by a margin of 0.278 seconds as he got his weekend off to a perfect start. However, it was not all plain sailing for the Red Bull driver, who was left frustrated with a build-up of traffic at Turn Three.
He was on a flying lap but was blocked by Esteban Ocon and another driver as he exited the corner, sparking a frenzied reaction over team radio as he shouted: “Wow, what? My god!”
Traffic often causes problems for drivers in practice sessions and qualifying, especially at shorter circuits like Zandvoort. Issues usually arise when drivers on slow laps fail to leave enough space for those on flying laps to pass safely, leading to close calls on a regular basis.
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A number of solutions have been mooted over the last few months, including a return to the one-shot qualifying format that was previously used between 2003 and 2005. Others, such as Carlos Sainz, have called for drivers to be split into two groups at smaller circuits.
“I think the shorter-term solution would be to at least do Q1 in a split qualifying group, ten cars, one from each team,” said Sainz earlier this year. “I think by Q2 the traffic already improves quite a bit. Q3 is not a problem, so it would be only short tracks in Q1, maybe divide the session by half and do eight minutes with one group, eight minutes with another group.”
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Verstappen, meanwhile, does not appear to be on board with either one-shot qualifying or the idea of splitting drivers into two groups. He explained in June that such changes would bring about unfair track conditions, with those running last likely to benefit from higher grip levels.
“It’s quite cool but again there’s also track evolution, so I’m not sure it’s the best idea,” he said. “There’s always traffic but this is Formula One as well, you just have to try and manage it. Some tracks of course are a bit better than others, but it’s a tricky one.”
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