“This shouldn’t be allowed” Verstappen tells team after Perez’s crash ends Q3

2022 Monaco Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen was left fuming after his team mate’s crash at the end of Q3 prevented him from improving his qualifying time.

The world champion was on course to improve his time on his final lap of Q3. He set his personal best first sector time, a few hundredths of a second faster than team mate Sergio Perez ahead of him.

However Perez spun into a barrier at Portier and was collected by Sainz. The session was red-flagged, leaving drivers no opportunity to improve their lap times.

Verstappen came to a stop at the scene of the crash and exclaimed in frustration on his radio, then told his team: “This shouldn’t be allowed,” Verstappen. “Otherwise it’s just better to do your lap and then just bin it into the wall.”

Qualifying in Monaco ended in similar circumstances last year, when pole-winner Leclerc crashed while trying to improve his quickest time from the beginning of Q3.

Speaking to media including RaceFans afterwards, Verstappen said he could have improved his starting position if he had been able to complete his lap.

“It was a bit of a traffic jam,” he said. “It’s very unfortunate. I think we could have done better than fourth.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull, Monaco, 2022
Gallery: 2022 Monaco Grand Prix qualifying day in pictures
“Not pole position, I think Charles [Leclerc] was too strong today, but at least it would have been nice to be second.

“But that’s Monaco, you know, you do one lap in Q3 and then of course there’s always a risk of a red flag when everyone is trying to risk it all.”

The Red Bull driver admitted he had a challenging start to the event. “So far it has been a bit tricky for me the whole weekend,” he said.

“Of course in qualifying, Q3, you want to go all out and it was getting a bit better. Actually I do think that last one, because I’d opted to do a little bit of a different strategy to the cars around me, that was actually quite good because I was on a good lap up until I got to that corner.”

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Verstappen’s radio messages from the end of Q3

LambiaseYellows ahead, Max, yellows, Checo. Yellows ahead, yellow. Track is blocked….
VerstappenMate for fuck’s sake. Okay. This is typical Monaco, isn’t it? For fuck’s sake.
VerstappenI have to switch off.
LambiaseYeah switch off please.
VerstappenThat was actually quite a decent lap up until then.
LambiaseYeah, sorry about that.
VerstappenThis shouldn’t be allowed. Otherwise it’s just better to do your lap and then just bin it into the wall.

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2022 Monaco Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...
Claire Cottingham
Claire has worked in motorsport for much of her career, covering a broad mix of championships including Formula One, Formula E, the BTCC, British...

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94 comments on ““This shouldn’t be allowed” Verstappen tells team after Perez’s crash ends Q3”

  1. Barry Bens (@barryfromdownunder)
    28th May 2022, 18:09

    Fair comment, seeing as it happened to him two years in a row. Not to mention it’s not the first (actually second) time in Monaco either. Especially now that you can simply swap out your gearbox, you can just mock it up and be done with it. Like Rosberg did a few years ago.

    Cause a red flag, get your best time deleted?

    1. Cause a red flag, get your best time deleted?

      No.

      Especially when as we have seen twice this weekend red flags can be called unnecessarily.

      Plus it opens up other issues. Like what if a driver stops with a technical issues or what if a driver goes off through no fault of his own (Car failure, Something on the track like oil or while trying to avoid Something) or because it starts to rain when they are still on slicks or something.

      Been caught out by a red flag is just a part of the sport, Sometimes you get hurt and others you may benefit just like with red flags, safety cars or vsc’s in the race.

    2. this is actually a worthy point.

      We’ve seen other dubious crashes [Rosberg] which lead to the qualifying being aborted, to the advantage of the person who crashed. There should be a rule which addresses this element of ‘gamesmanship’. Call it the ‘Monaco rule’.

    3. @barryfromdownunder No.
      @stefmeister Precisely & valid points, although I hadn’t pondered these possible side-effect consequences before.

    4. Max’s hopes of Pole Position died as soon as Sergio crashed. When he crashed the marshals waved the Yellow Flags, and it is compulsory to slow down when Yellow Flags are displayed. Even if the track wasn’t blocked Max couldn’t have gotten a better time than what he had posted previously because he had to slow down for the crash.

      1. Not always. So long as you can show you slowed through a yellow flag, there’s nothing in the rules to say you can’t then set a faster lap.
        Rosberg did precisely this in Hungary.

  2. “Crashing shouldn’t be allowed” – Max Verstappen.

    Don’t even know where to begin on the irony of that pearler Max.

    1. Also, don’t worry too much about P4 Max, Checo will duck out the way for you tomorrow afternoon. Can’t be having a hissy fit and a melt down for little Maxy.

      1. @jazz I’m sure that, if need be, will be done in all the best possible taste via two well-timed pit stops.

        1. Noframingplease (@)
          29th May 2022, 10:02

          @jazz @david-br great to see you have finally found eachother in the same obsession. That Keith loves to feed his most british fans with click headliners is obvious. Maybe he has some nice headliner from his dead Jos after the race so you can all comment on things Keith like to put out of context

          1. @nofanboysplease I’d suggest you sit down and talk to a professional if you’re having difficulty with the fact that other people have opinions different to you own. Seriously bro, seek some help! Also Keith’s website, Keith’s rules.

          2. @nofanboysplease Dead Jos? I’m sure race comments from the after life would generate headlines.

    2. @jazz Well, exactly. Maybe Max is fuming he wasn’t the one to get to bin it. It’s quite an implicit accusation that Checo might have crashed to protect his lead (solely over Max mind since Leclerc was P1). Actually a fair point in some ways: you can set the best time on the first run, then push a little to hard on the final run and it’s all over for everyone else. But then everyone knows that happens at Monaco or should do.

    3. I think Max meant to say ‘deliberately’ crashing should not be allowed,
      but couldn’t bring himself make such a blunt statement.

      1. I don’t think we should read that much into it. More likely he meant that it should not be allowed to cause a red flag in qualifying without incurring any penalty for it. Which is a fairer point since the “Indycar rule” has been discussed lately.

        1. It’s easy to use the radioed-in-the-heat-of-the-moment-comment for a juicy headline and put the more sensible comments made afterwards somewhere else in the article.

    4. A simple rule change would solve these: if there is a red flag in the last 5 minutes of Q3, just start a Q4 with 5 minutes on the clock.

      1. why? accidents happen. Verstappen was gonna be 4th anyway

    5. Maybe Max forgot that he crashed to got the red flags out in qualifying at Monaco as well. Guess he’s learning the art of hypocrisy from Horner really well.

      1. Maybe I forgot this also but tell me when did that happen?

        1. Grapmg I had to search for the time Max allegedly caused a red flag at Monaco in Q3 that stopped others from getting in their final hot laps to set the order for the race, and of course it doesn’t exist.

          Max crashed in 2016 in Q1 and it caused a red flag and then Q1 resumed after that. But hey, to some people that’s enough to call it comparable and therefore him a hypocrite. For some people facts needn’t get in the way of a cheap comeback.

          1. Max when he crashed in 2016 still interrupted other people’s running though, just at a different time of qualifying. Max’s comments are out of touch, he was not gonna get p2 like he claims, Perez and the 2 ferraris were faster than him all day. It was the same for all drivers by the way, Max should have laid down a faster first lap in q3, but he didnt so too bad, too sad.

    6. People actually fall for this kind of journalism. It’s an attempt to create a story that isnt there.

  3. “This shouldn’t be allowed” but a slave teammate is all fair for Max. As a slave, he should let him pass and cover his ass whenever possible but a little error should be punished harshly. Oh, also a reminder about the previous year. Charles paid the bill in the most painful way as he could not start the race.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      28th May 2022, 18:48

      The team orders situation has really wound up the Hamilton fans hasn’t it! It’s good to see they’re all still watching though after all the “I’m never watching F1 again” theatrics last year…

      1. @petebaldwin I am a Hamilton fan. Yet I am not especially would up by the team orders situation, nor did I suggest I would never be watching again.

        It seems your need for over generalisation to make a point brings it’s own set of theatrics.

      2. I’m not especially a Hamilton fan, though I do think he is one of the greats.
        Nor did I claim I’d never watch again after Abu Dhabi. I actually stopped watching live (and therefore stopped paying to watch) after the farce in Brazil, didn’t watch the finale at all but did listen live and have watched various clips – only deciding to reverse that decision after they sacked Masi and promised more consistency.

        I’m not enjoying this season, as I think the new cars are the right idea but poorly done.
        I think they look ponderous and slow, they are far too heavy and make F1 look bad. I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt as the rules are new and things might improve – but I’m not paying money I can ill afford in the current climate to follow the sport after this season if things don’t get better to watch for a general F1 fan who doesn’t follow any particular driver or team.
        I’ll just watch the highlights when it fits my schedule.

        1. @sham

          Why do we need to keep introducing bigger massive size chassis’s the size of trucks for a single seater, racing on specifically on winding race courses?

          What you said, I cant really argue with it and these last few races, especially Monaco has been highlighting the weakness in current F1 racing. But we do need to realize that F1 is an equipment development platform and a sport; there will always be up and downs when new tech and designs get introduced. But what amazes me is the direction it’s been going. Tracks like Monaco and other legendary tracks is a massive intrinsic part of F1 racing but F1 as an organization seems to have forgotten that and also what makes good racing (Monaco itself is special in its own way, but not exactly for the racing). I know Liberty is trying and there’s many things needed to be considered when introducing new chassis rules. Driver safety is paramount and excellent racing on classic F1 tracks is equally paramount. So far, they’re doing a great job on driver safety but not so much on the other.

          You think with the progression of the current technology, they can start incorporating/attempting to shrink size the chassis to work better on existing tracks and still keep driver safety up where it is now. I know we cant have it all but right now, I can understand Sham’s position.

      3. dumb generalisation by a Verstappen fan :)

      4. Dear pete only a thick like u can think that I’m a Hamilton fan and Hamilton fans are right to complain because stewards stool a championship from him and gave it to another driver, which the situation is unofficially confirmed by FIA later.

  4. Also the redbull will be rebuilt now which means it unlikely be match the setup it had for qualifying. This means parc ferme will be broken, which imo should mean the car starts from the rear of the grid.

    1. I don’t think that is the case, otherwise Sainz would be ruled out of P2 and to the back of the grid. Also, everybody would be already talking about those two and Alonzo starting for sure from the back, and so far none of them have mentioned starting outside their current grid position.
      With that said, I do think that of the 3, it is Perez the one at risk to start at the back if the gearbox would need to be changed.

      1. My point was a general point on how you might prevent deliberate crashes after qualifying. My point was specific to qualifying, where a driver does a good enough run, then crashes his car requiring serious repairs. This is about parc ferme and its rules which require the car not to be changed before the race, after qualifying.

        It seems to me if a crash occurs in Q1, Q2 or Q3, requiring serious repairs, then that car should not keep it qualifying position, but start at the back of the grid, since parc ferme has not been followed. The repairs could end up changing the setup to better suite the race, having achieved the benifits of a qualifying setup.

        Nevermind the fact that driver stands to benifit from the crash, or disadvantage the qualifying runs of those who would have followed had he not crashed.

  5. Simple solution.

    Drive faster than the opposition on your first run and then you’ll not be behind it someone hits the wall. /s

    1. It’s Monaco, you have to expect the expected, that being a late crash in qualifying.
      Would appear that Ferrari followed KL’s suggestion. As should others.

  6. Just implement the IndyCar qualy rules.
    Cause yellow = best time deleted.
    Cause red = best two times deleted + you may not start again that session.

    1. @Señor Sjon No.
      Penalizing for crashing through an error would be unfair + open up other issues as pointed out above.
      Sometimes these things just happen in racing.

    2. This is one of the dumbest rules ever implemented. It prevents drivers to push and find margins and limits of their performance in fear of crashing.

    3. The problem with that is drivers don’t cause flags, the race director does. And as was shown today, some race directors are more prone to (over)reaction than others. F1 has seen more red flags in the last two years across all sessions than I remember seeing in the literal decade before.

      1. True, sessions with 5 red flags aren’t a thing I remember 20 years ago.

  7. Petulant child. Checo got team orders 3 times in Spain.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      29th May 2022, 11:53

      No different to suggesting you quit the race when it’s not going your way or suggesting someone deliberately crashed into you as we saw with Hamilton and KMag last race. Drivers say stupid things in the heat of the moment.

      After the session, Max admitted it’s just the way it goes in Monaco – you have to get your lap in early.

      1. yes Max says the stupidest things of all the drivers in the heat of the moment. i dont know what his problem is. his PR person corrects him in the pits to make people hate him less. he doesnt have a likeable personality. fast driver but a twat.

  8. Very naughty of Checo and Alonso. Very Naughty indeed. 2 seasoned drivers just happen to crash when they are in good positions… I understand why though. Perez was robbed. Alonso needs to shine. Will be a good first corner tomoro…

    1. ^^ Sarcasm? I hope so, otherwise it would be silly to think that 2 seasoned drivers will crash their cars on purpose risking damage to a point where they would have to start at the back of the grid. Not to mention risking their own safety as it was the case of Perez getting hit by Sainz

    2. Doubt it’s purposeful, perez was very close to sainz and had the measure of verstappen this quali, so could’ve started 2nd with a good final lap.

  9. Well, accidents happen and sometimes it’s going in your favour (Imola) sometimes not (like today). Leclerc is always the first car up the road that reduces the risks as well.

  10. I just hope he doesn’t win the WDC. Accussing his team mate of crashing on purpose, although his boss could tell him for sure if PER crashed on purpose or not…. doesn’t make him a good person at all.

    1. Was he ever a good person?

      1. I suppose no chance you two see the irony in your comments?

  11. Max was behind his wingman and the Ferraris through all qualy runs. But ofc needs to complain, just curious what whiny spice has to add…

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      29th May 2022, 11:55

      A very grown up post.

  12. José Lopes da Silva
    28th May 2022, 19:24

    It’s more than 15 years now that Michael Schumacher sabotaged a qualifying, also in Monaco.
    Perez did not sabotage the qualifying. What Max is saying is that qualifying should not be decided on this randomness.

    But this will continue to happen. As someone said, “Drive faster than the opposition on your first run and then you’ll not be behind it someone hits the wall.” They say this is sport.

    Eventually, they’ll remove Monaco and keep this qualifying rules, for the sake of “the sport”.

    Congrats to Dennis Hauger for his win in F2 sprint race! Long live the sprint races!

    1. Championshipsmskouldnt be decided on random crashes but it was ok for Verstappen

      1. José Lopes da Silva
        29th May 2022, 11:06

        I’m just criticising the qualifying format.
        If you feel itchy about 2021 championship decision, let me warn you that it will take many years to get better. Adelaide/94 is in everyone’s minds, although no one outside Britain considers that it would be fair for Hill to win that championship.

    2. Championships shouldn’t be decided on random crashes but it was ok for Verstappen.

      1. No way, if it weren’t for abu dhabi’s latifi crash it’d have been decided on random crashes anyway: silverstone and hungary.

  13. Max in Dutch media: “It’s a shame this happened to me twice, but it is what it is. Charles was too strong anyway today, but I think I was able to do better than fourth.”

    That’s it. He’s blaming no one, the hateful comments towards him are unjustified.

    1. @bartvander Unfortunately, to the best of our knowledge, Verstappen only gave one short (45 second) answer to English language print media and didn’t take any questions so we couldn’t ask him anything further about this. Of course we would have liked the opportunity to ask him for his thoughts in detail, that’s the reason we go to the considerable expense of attending races in person.

      1. And his answers after the race were clear and conform what Bart ander wrote.
        Interesting though, Keith is almost acknowledging the troll intentions..
        Not good!

      2. Maybe getting Dutch-English Google translate would be a cheaper solution.
        But of course that wouldn’t get you the same headline, clicks and comments.

        1. Spot on!

        2. 100%.
          Can put in the effort to attend the races (days), can’t put in the effort to use Google Translate or Deepl (minutes).
          Expects that everybody will say everything in English…

        3. We attend races in person because we want to hear directly from the people involved and report what they say accurately. If all written media only did what you suggest, i.e. copy quotes from other sites and translate them, no media would exist to do first-hand reporting.

          What you’re suggesting is poor practice for other reasons. I see every day people stealing quotes from other sites, mis-translating them (it’s often obvious when they’ve relied on an automatic translation instead of someone who actually speaks the language) and spreading misinformation.

          This is not to say we never use non-English quotes – when we are satisfied with the accuracy of a translation and the story is of significant interest we do (here’s a recent case in point). But when we have been approved and accredited to attend an event where we have been told we’ll have the opportunity to speak to (in this case) the world champion, that is what we plan on being able to do, especially given the significant costs involved.

          To be fair to Verstappen, it’s not as if he is usually ungenerous with his time, this feels like a bit of a one-off.

          1. @keithcollantine, it seems you missed the slight dig and sarcastic undertone of my comment.
            I actually applaud you for attending races and provide exclusive content; the reports by Dieter were extremely good and insightful.
            The problem I have the last couple of years is that you opt to focus on headlines which do not properly reflect what has been said or done, but seem to be chosen purely to keep the clicks and comments flowing.
            I see it as ‘poor practice’ to stir up the different fan groups to create more (repetitive) comments, rather than to try and unite the fans of racing which this site could and should do IMO.

            If you want a ‘case in point’:

            But when we have been approved and accredited to attend an event where we have been told we’ll have the opportunity to speak to (in this case) the world champion, that is what we plan on being able to do, especially given the significant costs involved.

            Then why choose to headline this article with a quote from his radio messages, rather than one of the lines he gave Racefans during the interview?

      3. Of course we would have liked the opportunity to ask him for his thoughts in detail

        But if you care so much about his thoughts in detail, why do you put the comment he made in the heat of the moment (and to his team, not to the media per se) in the headline?

        1. Clicks! Everything for the mighty click!

        2. Why shouldn’t it be a headline? Do you make the same arguments for other drivers?

          1. Noframingplease (@)
            29th May 2022, 18:45

            Cuze it puts things out of context and is polarizing

      4. Noframingplease (@)
        29th May 2022, 10:12

        @keithcollantine ‘unfortunately’? No sorry Keith that doesn’t sound very plausible. To many articles here about the RB team or Max are ripped from their context. But reading the comments it doesn’t really interest most fans here when you are a bit creative with headlines. It looks like the need of feeding the somewhat obsessed fans is more important.

  14. Have the officials reviewed the incident? I heard Sainz got a reprimand for P3 and if he gets one more he will get a 10 grid penalty for this or next race.
    Sainz said he saw the yellow flag and didn’t see where the accident car was, but didn’t say if he slowed down or braked, he did mention he hit the brakes when he saw the stranded car which was AFTER the yellow flags. Drivers should supposed to slow down at the yellow flags not until the see the stranded car.
    Doubt Race directors will do anything about it but worth checking given the penalty situation with Sainz and the additional damage caused to the RB car and the potential injury it could’ve caused to the other driver ( I think I saw the medical marshals attending Checo for a moment)
    Nothing against Sainz, just curious of the situation.

    1. Xavi, there has been no official announcement on the incident.

      However, the indication is that, because the warning panel only lit up to show a yellow flag just before Sainz turned in, with the next marshals post not visible until he was already round the corner, the stewards do seem to have taken into account that Sainz would have had very little time to react between the yellow flag being shown and then colliding with Perez’s car.

      The telemetry that is available also shows that he came off the throttle immediately and he’d already slowed down quite a bit before he did then hit Perez. He didn’t hit the brakes immediately so as to not cause the car to slide or spin if he locked the wheels whilst still turning the car, as did happen when he came across Perez’s car, but the indication is that he was trying to slow the car down prior to hitting Perez – thus, no action is being taken against him.

  15. Mexico 2019 he wanted it to be allowed lol

    1. In fairness to him, it wasn’t Verstappen who crashed

  16. David Guttman
    28th May 2022, 21:12

    What about a different interesting qualifying format for Monaco. Each driver gets 2 runs. Then its sudden death from there. If driver A goes fastest, then driver B beats them, then driver A gets another run. And so on until no one beats the fastest driver.

    I mean, if its all about the show then that’s a gimmick i’d watch.

  17. I would love to know that this crash was just Checo paying back for the team orders he received in Spain. Unfortunately, it was just him pushing his limits on a track he is really good at.

  18. Well Max should have followed Charles and done his last lap then. Don’t cry about it now.

  19. “this shouldn’t be allowed”

    Like what happened with your WDC right max?

    1. Plenty compensated by hungary and silverstone, they’re random accidents too.

      1. The championship of 2021 was manipulated to be artificially close from about mid season onwards. Questionable decisions in all directions aimed to benefit the show and make the championship go to the wire.
        The final round was just a comedy of errors, not directly related to the crash but the way the race director interpreted the rule book in any way he could to manufacture a last lap showdown. Even NASCAR isn’t so fake as the 2021 championship. I’m still so very angry that an epic year in F1 was so completely manipulated.

        But, onto the topic here – it’s Monaco, stuff happens. It was a dull quali, and will be a dull race. It will continue to be until either Monaco is removed from the calendar or the rules allow light and nimble cars that are exciting to watch again.

        1. @sham

          Even NASCAR isn’t so fake

          July 2001, Daytona, would like a word. Because all the other times aren’t as egregious, except when they add Jeff Gordon to the Chase due to intentional crashing.

  20. “This shouldn’t be allowed.” LOL Racers should be allowed to crash or drive off the track pushing another car even wider off track or only unlapping the back markers between 1 and 2.

  21. Unintentional mistakes shouldn’t be allowed? Ok Max lol 🤡

  22. Catered Ham
    29th May 2022, 2:40

    I would love to see a completely different qualifying format for Monaco. Give drivers 2 laps (only driver on the track), taken in reverse championship order. Average the two times to seed final top 10 shootout running order. Then give the top 10 one lap.

  23. I miss the part where Max ask if his partner was ok.

  24. I kinda agree with what Max said. I was annoyed last year when Leclerc binned it after having provisional pole, preventing drivers from doing their final runs. But as long as it’s not deliberate there’s not much that can be done.

    I kinda chuckled when Max stormed into the pits and barged past Marko. He’s been behind Checo all weekend and the one time he looked to be edging ahead…. Road block 🐸

  25. Max clearly wasn’t happy with this happening for second year running. But I thought he was quite reasonable and measured in his comments to the media afterwards.

    It’s a shame that it’s now become common practice for Racefans to use selective quoting for a click-bait article headline that portrays Max in a negative light. The growing bias on this site is disappointing.

    1. But I thought he was quite reasonable and measured in his comments to the media afterwards.

      The same’s been true of Lewis over the past few years but people like you never saw it that way. Interesting to see perspectives changing now.

      1. I hope you understand there is a difference between a comment of one of the many ordinary people on this site and a headline or article by the owner of this site?

        The site is called racefans, which implies a sort of neutrality. It isn’t called hamiltonfans, or verstappenhaters, which it sometimes seems to be more like.

      2. I like to think my perspective changes all the time, don’t see why now should be any different.

        And who are these ‘people like you’ that you mention. I like the sound of them.

  26. In snooker, should a fluke become a penalty? What goes around, comes around…

    1. Comparing snooker to F1, really?

  27. This is not only a problem in Monaco but more likely to happen there. I think they need more time in Q3 to do at least 3 runs. I don’t understand why we have to watch 45 minutes to see the positions 10-20 and than get 15 min and max two runs for pole. Why not like motogp devide it in two qualifying q1 and q2 based on free practice?

Comments are closed.