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It’s not often that the F1 world sees Max Verstappen’s name sitting outside the top 10, let alone outside Q1, but that’s exactly what happened at Interlagos on Friday, and fans could hardly believe their eyes.
The reigning world champion was out in Q1 after a messy qualifying session, which became one of the most surprising moments of the season and left both fans and Red Bull stunned.
A Rough Weekend for the F1 World Champion Max Verstappen
Verstappen is no stranger to pressure, as the Dutch driver is a four-time world champion and has built a reputation for performing under any circumstances and turning bad situations into great ones, but this time at Interlagos, things simply didn’t click.
From the start of the weekend, Verstappen wasn’t comfortable in the RB21 and complained about the car’s balance and the way it handled bumps on the track. During the Sprint race earlier, he could only manage fourth after struggling to overtake George Russell, which made Red Bull decide to make big changes before qualifying, hoping to improve the car’s performance.
Those adjustments completely backfired, as in Q1 Verstappen’s car looked unsettled and unpredictable, with the Dutchman sliding through corners and struggling for grip. “It’s not what you want to see,” Verstappen said afterward.
“The whole weekend has already been quite tough but this is a bit unexpected, I would say, after changing quite a bit on the car. It was just not responding. I had no grip out there so I had to really massively underdrive it basically. It just didn’t work,” he added.
The result was a rare sight for everyone, as Verstappen was knocked out in Q1 after finishing 16th, and this was the first time in his Formula 1 career that he failed to make it out of Q1 purely because of a lack of pace rather than a crash or technical failure.
F1 Fans React to the Unthinkable
As soon as Q1 was over, social media lit up with disbelief as fans couldn’t believe they had just witnessed the unstoppable Verstappen get eliminated so early in the first session.
One fan posted, “I can’t believe my eyes Max Verstappen’s last Q1 elimination was in 2021. Even Jos came out of the garage worried.” Another wrote, “Max has been performing miracles in that tractor, sadly wasn’t to be today.”
A fan also wrote about his days in Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls) where a situation like this never occurred, “Him being in Toro Rosso for over a year and never got eliminated in Q1 on Pure pace is crazy.”
Him being in Toro Rosso for over a year and never got eliminated in Q1 on Pure pace is crazy
— 友 (@Radityo_utomo) November 9, 2025
One fan also joked about Verstappen’s father being mad about the situation and pouring his frustration out on the hotel staff, “Jos is trashing the hotel room and fighting the housekeeping staff as we speak…,” while another wrote, “From a chance at the biggest comeback in championship history to his first career Q1 exit on pure pace, Max Verstappen has been on a rollercoaster.”
Even teammate Yuki Tsunoda couldn’t avoid the struggle by finishing 19th and later explained, “We made a change in the sprint race, which gave us a good idea to make the car better, we thought. I think a couple of things, he (Verstappen) also took the set-up that I was using. Now, I don’t want to blame my set-up, because I think the set-up was OK, the main thing is we didn’t make the tyre work.”
However, it’s not over yet for Verstappen, but Sunday’s race won’t be easy, as Interlagos is a track that rewards rhythm. Starting 16th means he’ll have to work hard to get back into the points, and unlike last year when rain played into his hands, this weekend’s forecast doesn’t offer much hope for a wet-weather comeback.
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