Verstappen finds suspension failure ‘weird to understand’

Max Verstappen found his suspension failure during Formula 1 qualifying for the United States Grand Prix “weird to understand” after a heavy hit with one of the kerbs brought his session to an early end.

Verstappen clipped the sausage kerb at the exit of Turn 15 towards the end of Q1, with the impact resulting in a rear-left suspension failure and subsequent driveshaft issue. It meant he could take no further part in qualifying, leaving him a lowly 15th on the grid for Sunday’s race.

The Red Bull F1 driver said after the session that he was unsure why the failure had occurred as it did, having often used the kerbed part of the exit in the past without any issues.

“I touched the outside kerb and it failed the suspension and took the driveshaft out, which is a bit weird because before we were always taking that kerb, because it opens the corner a little bit more to make it faster,” Verstappen explained.

“Those kerbs have been there for like two years now, so it is a bit weird to understand. Also everybody else in qualifying took those orange kerbs and on our car it failed. We’ll have a look into it.”

Verstappen said he was unsure whether the team would need to take a grid penalty as a result of the damage, but was hopeful of a fightback through the field similar to his charge from 16th to fourth in 2017.

“I think the pace in the race is always a bit more competitive, so I hope that we can clear the midfield quite fast like last year and then we can still do a good job,” Verstappen said.