Verstappen laments “super frustrating” F1 Turkish GP after spin

Max Verstappen described his Turkish Grand Prix as “super frustrating” after the Red Bull Formula 1 driver spun out of contention for victory and ultimately finished sixth.

Having recovered from an initial poor start, Verstappen looked to be in with a shot of the win in treacherous wet conditions as he rapidly hunted down Sergio Perez and looked to make a challenge for second place.

Verstappen looked to the inside of Perez after the Racing Point driver ran wide coming out of Turn 9 on Lap 18, but the Dutchman ran over the kerbs and lost control of his RB16, which sling-shotted across the track.

Verstappen flat-spotted his tyres and was forced into a stop to take on another set of intermediate tyres as he fell to eighth, before recovering to take sixth at the chequered flag.

“It was very frustrating to be honest,” Verstappen said. “I tried to follow Checo through that kink and then suddenly I just massively washed-out, you get onto the green bit and then a big spin.

“I tried to keep it out of the wall of course but flat-spotted the tyres. After that you very quickly catch up with the guys but you can’t pass. There’s just one line around here, and that’s already super slippery.

“So it’s super frustrating and we were just waiting for people to pit and whatever. The fact the track was not really dry and you keep going on intermediates but at one point when you start wearing the rubber of the intermediates, you are just sliding over that rubber everywhere.

“Really, really difficult. Just following, no grip and truing to survive. Not a great day but hopefully we will never be in this situation again where it is so slippery.”

Verstappen avoided a penalty after being cleared of crossing the white line at the exit of the pit lane. 

Teammate Alex Albon ended up finishing just behind Verstappen in seventh after he too suffered a spin at Turn 4 on Lap 34.

The Thai racer felt he was on for a win until his error which dropped him down from third place, with Lewis Hamilton going on to claim the victory and the 2020 title.

“I feel a bit confused actually about the race,” he admitted. "From the beginning, our starts were poor but then we had very good grip, we could make our way through and then when we boxed for inters we had incredible grip.

“At that point I thought we were in for a win and I thought everything was going to plan. Then I had a little pirouette but still felt good with it being a long race and anything can happen. But then with the other set of tyres there was no grip and no pace, so a lot of head-scratching.

“It’s such a unique weekend. We’ll look into it for sure but also just focus on the next race.”