Max Verstappen has slammed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix track describing it as ‘very, very dangerous’.
The reigning world champion’s comments came after Mick Schumacher was involved in a horrific crash during qualifying yesterday that saw the session red flagged. The Haas driver collided into a wall at 170mph but it was thankfully confirmed he was ‘physically in a good condition’ after being taken to hospital.
Schumacher took to social media afterwards to update fans on his condition saying: “Hi everyone, I just wanted to say that I’m ok. Thank you for the kind messages. The car felt great @haasf1team, we’ll come back stronger.” Despite his all-clear Schumacher will not take part in the race today with Haas only running one car.
The incident had left many in the paddock, from drivers to teams, incredibly worried and that was evident when Verstappen aired his views on the design of the Saudi Arabia track that has had its critics in the past. The Red Bull man took aim at the ‘dangerous’ design of the Jeddah circuit, despite its modifications following crashes at last year’s race.
“Last year for me, personally, I was happy with how we went through the weekend in terms of crashes," said Verstappen “In some places, if you lose the car like today with Mick and you go flat out into the wall it is extremely painful and very, very dangerous.
“Not only that, the straights are not entirely straight because they're all a bit blind. I don't understand why you need to design the track [like this]. If it's going to be flat out just design it straight. It's just safer for everyone."
Qualifying eventually resumed after the lengthy clear-up, following Schumacher’s crash, as Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez claimed a sensational pole position. It was the first time he had achieved the feat in his Formula 1 career with Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz starting second and third respectively.
Verstappen himself will have hoped to put his car further up the grid but he could only achieve fourth during qualifying. The World Champion did admit afterwards that his struggles were down to the feel of his tyres.
“It felt like I was driving on a different tyre,” he said. “Every corner I was losing one or two tenths while doing the same preparation, so I don't understand what went wrong there. After such a long break because of the red flag everything cools down, ambient track so there is a big track progression, but for me, it felt like I was actually getting slower.
“That's something which was very weird and I still had my delta from Q1 and I never improved on that going into Q3. Some corners I was still losing time to, so that was pretty weird.”
