2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix – P16

Max Verstappen’s Q1 exit this weekend came down to a sheer lack of pace and was the culmination of a number of issues facing him and his RB21. It had been bouncing and suffering ride issues over the Sprint earlier in the day and while setup changes made during the break in parc fermé resolved those somewhat, he was left with “zero grip” instead.

Red Bull’s team principal, Laurent Mekies, later revealed that the team had taken a higher risk approach to said changes in trying to push the performance into a better window and increase the chance of a better result than the P4 he finished in the Sprint. Instead though, it went in the complete opposite direction and they “lost a lot of competitiveness”, as Mekies said.

It lead to Verstappen having to “underdrive” the car to a “painful and difficult to accept” P16 result, but to allow for setup changes and a completely new power-unit to be fitted to his RB21 the team opted to start Verstappen from the pit-lane.

Given that there were no technical issues, crashes, or penalties impacting this performance and it came about as a result of a pure pace deficit, it marked the first Q1 exit for that reason over Verstappen’s 11-season career.

2021 Russian Grand Prix – P20 – Engine Penalties

Prior to this weekend, the last time Verstappen failed to reach Q2 was in Sochi four seasons ago. Faced with a back of the grid start as a result of taking all new power-unit components, Verstappen failed to set a meaningful lap time over the qualifying hour and so exited in Q1 and recorded a P20 finishing position.

He later recovered to P2.

2019 Italian Grand Prix – P20 – Engine Penalties

Similarly to 2021, engine penalties that were set to push him to the back of the grid for the 2019 Italian Grand Prix meant Verstappen didn’t set a lap time in qualifying and ended the session P20.

He drove back to P7 over the grand prix.

2018 Monaco Grand Prix – P20 – Crash damage from FP3

The 2018 Monaco Grand Prix saw Verstappen suffer a significant shunt in the final hour of practice, just hours prior to qualifying was set to begin. He clipped the inside barrier at the exit of the ‘La Piscine’ or swimming pool chicane (T16) after getting “caught off guard” when passing a slow car, as Verstappen himself said.

Despite the team’s best effort to rebuild his car so he could partake, a gearbox leak in the late stages of the build left them with no time to get Verstappen out on track. He was granted permission from the stewards to partake in the grand prix though, and raced back to P9.

2017 Chinese Grand Prix – P19 – Engine Misfire/Issue

Verstappen was left to start the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix from 19th on the grid after an spark plug issue created a misfire in the engine, leaving him down on power. He did log a lap but it was 1.392s off his teammate Daniel Ricciardo’s best Q1 lap.

Resolving it overnight allowed Verstappen to race through to P3.

2016 Monaco Grand Prix – P21 – Crash in Q1

Verstappen suffered his third crash of the weekend to bring his qualifying hopes to an end in Monaco in 2016.

Similarly to 2018, he clipped the inside barrier exiting the swimming pool chicane which sent him into the wall and out of the session. Although he was P21 in the results he started from the pitlane due to the repairs needed. He did ultimately work his way back to a points paying position before retiring after another hit into the barriers, this time at Massenet.

2015 Italian Grand Prix – P20 – Bodywork Issue

Verstappen’s first Q1 exit of his career came in just his 12th race in Formula 1 and for a slightly unusual reason.

Toro Rosso had rushed to get Verstappen out for an installation lap before the end of Q1 after having opted to change his engine. But in that hurry, Verstappen said “the bodywork was only 50 per cent [secured] from all the bolts” which they believed would hold on but failed as he came around the Curva Grande due to the vibrations.

It left parts of his engine cover strewn over the circuit and Verstappen trundled back to the pits with no cover over his Toro Rosso and no time on the board.

That earlier engine change also earned him a 30-place grid drop penalty, provisionally placing him P17 as others also received penalties. However as he had failed to set a qualifying time the stewards permitted him to start from the back of the grid instead.

Over the grand prix, he recovered to P12.