Verstappen: 'When I f**k up, they can also tell me'

Max Verstappen slammed his Red Bull crews in the heat of the moment after their fuel blunder in qualifying in Singapore, but the Dutchman defended his hard reaction, insisting that criticism is a two-way street.

Verstappen looked set to snatch pole from Charles Leclerc on his final flyer in Q3 when he was suddenly ordered by his team to abort the lap.

It later transpired that Red Bull had underestimated the amount of fuel that would be required for the entire qualifying session, and allowing Verstappen to complete his lap could have put the team short of the minimum mandatory fuel sample required by the FIA.

And a shortfall would have been sanctioned with a back row start for Verstappen who will launch his race on Sunday from P8.

The misstep by Red Bull led to an expletive-laden reaction from the Dutchman over the radio, the intensity of which was unexpected given how rarely the Milton Keynes-based outfit has let down its driver.

"I know, but I like the critical approach," he said after qualifying. "Because when I fuck up, they can also tell me that, you know, I make a mistake. And I think it should be the other way around as well.

“Because that's how we keep each other heading into the right direction, because we want to be perfect, and we don't want to be good. We want to be perfect."

Verstappen's body language and demeanor when he got out of his car required no further comment on his part to his crew.

"I think they know [how I felt] when they saw my face and what I said on the radio."

• Read also: Fuel miscalculation forced Verstappen to abort final lap

Addressing the problem that cost him a likely pole position for a race that could seal his second world title, Verstappen said there was no excuse for the slip-up.

"I think we got a little bit surprised that of course we had that extra lap," he said. "But you can track that you see that coming. That's why I don't really understand how that was missed.

"And, of course in hindsight, they should have let me finish the lap before, where they told me to abort already to make a gap for the last lap. Of course, all of this was also a bit triggered with Pierre [Gasly] in front of me.

"So that's why I had to create a gap for that final lap, because I was getting close to him. But that's not an excuse.

"I can't see how much fuel is in the car. But we have all the sensors in the world to track these kinds of things.

"So yeah, incredibly frustrating, because I think we had a good car. And I think you could see that already to Q3 that on mistakes.

"The car was really good. The conditions are tricky, but I like that. The car was also working quite well."

Verstappen felt that his penultimate flyer, which he had purposefully aborted to put some distance between himself and Gasly, was "a big one".

"It was already over two seconds to my fastest one in Q3," he said. "I mean, even in the lap I did, I had a big moment in the last sector. And I was already like two seconds up, I think, before I even got to these two corners.

"That was a big one. That could have been also right hand down into the wall! But we saved it.

"Normally, if you have enough fuel in the car, that last lap would have been faster. I didn't know that I didn't have enough fuel in the car, otherwise of course, I would have just gone for it.

"It was alright, it would have definitely been pole. Because like I said, my 1m51.3s or whatever I did, I had a really big slide in that last chicane before the last corner. So there was a lot in it."

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter