Red Bull driver Max Verstappen made an unexpected exit during the end stages of qualifying after dominating all three practice sessions.
It was during the end stages of qualifying that Verstappen encountered a driveshaft problem which meant he was forced to retire.
“Drive shaft is broken, so then it stops,” said Verstappen.
“I can’t make anything else of it. Just have to accept and try to make the most of it on Sunday.”
Red Bull completely changed Verstappen’s gearbox from last season prior to this particular session.
It begged the obvious question: Is there something faulty with the new gearbox which led to the driveshaft failure?
Max has quelled this theory and said the two things were not related.
If he is not handed out any more penalties, he will start the race from P15, which he believes will prove to be a stiff task.
“So far we’ve had a really good weekend, every session was going really well. Every time we were on the track the car was working really well,” he said.
“It will be a bit more tricky to get to the front, but it’s all about scoring points. I would’ve wanted to start further up the road but we cannot change that.”