Unprecedented: Verstappen has first Q1 exit on merit at the Brazil GP

For the first time in his career, Max Verstappen was eliminated in Q1 on pure pace.

The Red Bull Racing driver finished 16th last Sunday, while his teammate Yuki Tsunoda set only the 19th quickest time.

This was Verstappen’s seventh Q1 elimination, but his previous ones were not due to performance — they were caused by, for example, existing grid penalties.

The last time the Dutchman was eliminated early on was at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix. Verstappen already had a three-place grid drop for the race after his previous incident with Lewis Hamilton in Monza, and was relegated to last place after taking an engine penalty.

Verstappen driving the RB21 at Interlagos - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

In recent years, it’s been rare for the Dutchman to miss out on Q3. The last time it happened was also in Brazil, after a red flag prevented him from completing his lap in Q2.

The year before, after serving a grid penalty, Verstappen started from P17 and still went on to win the race in wet conditions.

With the current generation of cars, Verstappen failed to make it through to Q3 on two other occasions. The first was at the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP, where a driveshaft issue prevented him from setting a lap in Q2.

First time with no Red Bulls in Q3 since 2023

Then at the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, the Dutchman was knocked out by Liam Lawson and finished in P11. That was also the last time that neither of the Red Bull drivers made it through to Q3 in an F1 qualifying session, as Sergio Perez finished 13th.

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