F1 champion-elect Verstappen rues “terrible” weekend 

The Dutchman came into the weekend with a slim chance of sealing the 2022 world championship after five consecutive victories, but those hopes quickly faded when a fuel error from Red Bull in qualifying left him eighth on the grid. 

Verstappen made a torrid start to Sunday’s race but eventually recovered to finish seventh after a lock-up while attempting to pass McLaren’s Lando Norris forced him to make an unscheduled pit stop. 

Despite the disappointment, Verstappen is still on course to win the championship at the next race in Japan. 

“It is just a very frustrating weekend,” he told reporters on Sunday night. 

“I can of course say it doesn’t matter, we have five races left and we have a big lead, but I want to have a good weekend every single time and we had a really terrible weekend. 

“It started, of course, yesterday with the big f--- up in qualifying.” 

Asked if he can take some pleasure from his on-track battles, Verstappen replied: “Zero. This is not what I enjoy.” 

Verstappen was furious after Red Bull’s qualifying blunder and left the track early on Saturday night as he skipped the team debrief. 

But the 25-year-old dismissed suggestions he was trying to make a statement to his team. 

“It’s not about making a statement, it is just how I feel,” he stressed. “It wouldn’t have been much use to talk.”

Verstappen revealed hitting the anti-stall during his start was the reason behind his poor getaway. 

“I dropped the clutch and hit anti-stall, so I need to analyse why that happened, but then of course you lose a lot of spots,” he explained to Sky Sports. 

"From there, I tried to pass a few people, some worked, but then you get stuck in a little bit of a train. Everyone has their tyres up to temperature, so it's really hard to follow.

"Then of course we were a bit lucky, some people had a few mistakes.

"We were in fifth, tried to go for fourth to pass Lando and as soon as I got alongside him I braked, not even late, but I bottomed out because I was struggling already a lot there with bottoming and being offline it was probably even more bumpy.

“So as soon as I braked, the front wheels jumped into the air, and that was it, I just went straight on.

"I had to box again because of the massive vibrations, put new tyres on and come from last back into the points.

"It's not where we want to be, but it already of course starts from yesterday [Saturday], you put yourself in a spot like that and it can either work brilliantly, you can drive back to the front, or it's very frustrating, like we had.”