Max Verstappen was raging at the end of qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix, as he lost out on a chance to fight for pole position.
The qualifying session began in wet weather, but the track began drying rather quickly as the session progressed. With teams scrambling to make the most of the improving track conditions, there was a mad dash for pole position at the end of quali.
A mistake from Verstappen's Red Bull team cost him while he was on a fast lap - and the 2021 world champion was fuming on the team radio.
Max Verstappen goes at Red Bull over team radio
Max Verstappen made a mistake on his penultimate lap in qualifying, putting the pressure on the Dutchman as he flew into his final lap of the session.
Sitting in P7, Verstappen was on a flyer of a lap, and on course for pole position, when his Red Bull team instructed him to abort the lap. As he came in to the pits, Verstappen made his feelings clear over the confusion.
What the fuck? What the fuck? What the fuck are you guys saying?
Unbelievable, mate. I don't get it, what the fuck is this about?
With uncertain track conditions, most teams made the unusual decision to load their cars up with fuel and stay on track for the majority of the final segment of qualifying.
The norm in qualifying sessions is to put as little fuel in the car as possible and go for multiple runs, meaning that this was a journey into the unknown for the teams. Red Bull got their calculations wrong and, as Verstappen flew around on his potential pole position lap, realised he may run out of fuel.
The penalty for running out of fuel would have been a back-of-the-grid start - making Verstappen's eventual P8 seem a bit better in context.
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Nonetheless, Max was still unhappy when he spoke to Sky F1 after the session.
"We ran out of fuel, so it's just incredibly frustrating and shouldn't happen"
Max Verstappen reacts to his final lap in Q3, in which he was asked to pit during the final stages 👇 pic.twitter.com/G64uvUtUHU— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) October 1, 2022
He said that he understood the team's decision, but that it had been an unacceptable mistake from Red Bull:
They told me to abort [the previous lap], so that was okay. On the final lap, they told me to box and I realised, I think, what was going to happen. We ran out of fuel. It's just incredibly frustrating and shouldn't happen.
Even when you underfuel it, or you don't plan to do those six laps, then at least you track that throughout the session that you are not going to make it. We should have seen that way earlier.
Not happy at all at the moment. I know, of course, it's always a team effort. I can make mistakes, and the team can make mistakes - but it's never acceptable. Of course, you learn from it, but this is really...really bad, to be honest, it shouldn't happen.
He would go on to say, "at the moment, I'm not really in the mood to think about the race tomorrow."
Max Verstappen is still the firm favourite for the 2022 drivers' title, and it will require several days of the ilk of Singapore qualifying to allow the chasing pack any chance to catch up.
Nonetheless, Ferrari and Charles Leclerc will be happy to have taken pole position amid the chaos at Red Bull, ahead of Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez, and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.
It is Hamilton's first top three start all season, and he will hope to grab a first win of the season on Sunday.
Even starting P8, it is hard to discount Max Verstappen from the equation for the race win on Sunday afternoon.
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