Max Verstappen, the reigning Formula 1 world champion, may have lost his record number of consecutive victories after neither he nor his teammate Sergio Perez qualified for the final qualifying round for Sunday’s race in Singapore.
Verstappen, who has won the last ten races, finished 11th on Saturday and was eliminated along with Perez for the final round after finishing 13th.
Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda were also eliminated in the second qualifying round, as were Valtteri Bottas, Oscar Piastri, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu.
The first qualifying round was brought to a premature halt after Lance Stroll had an accident with his Aston Martin when he raced into the pits.
The impact with a wall caused his car to spin across the track with wheels and bodywork flying.
Lando Norris was close behind him but managed to avoid the wreckage in his McLaren.
The accident eliminated Stroll from the rest of the qualifying rounds, but he did manage to walk away from the wreckage unaided.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finally finished fastest in the last lap and will start tomorrow in first place. Mercedes’ George Russell jumps off in second place and Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc in third place.
Verstappen is currently chasing his third world title and has a massive lead over Perez and all the other racers.
But the Dutchman has never won in Singapore and faces an almost impossible task, as Red Bull has been out of step all weekend.
