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Unseen footage shows Max Verstappen had lap 'ruined' by rival driver at Las Vegas GP before controversial move

Unseen footage shows Max Verstappen had lap 'ruined' by rival driver at Las Vegas GP before controversial move

Qualifying wasn't short of incident for Verstappen.

Ryan Smart

Ryan Smart

Red Bull's Max Verstappen has qualified in second place for the Las Vegas Grand Prix - but unseen footage shows the F1 world champion had a hairy moment during the session.

The Dutchman actually qualified in third place out on the track at the Vegas Strip Circuit, behind the Ferrari pairing of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

But Sainz incurred a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change following a scary incident on Friday, in which his car was destroyed after running over a manhole cover.

You can see the clip below.

Verstappen will, therefore, have to attempt to win a record-extending 18th Grand Prix of the season from an unfavourable position - but he will no doubt back himself to overtake polesitter Leclerc.

While qualifying was largely incident-free compared to the chaos of FP1 yesterday, there was a notable incident broadcast on Sky Sports F1 involving the Dutch driver.

TV cameras showed Verstappen overtaking Esteban Ocon into turn one on his final lap of the first session, with the move ruining both drivers' laps.

As a result, Alpine driver Ocon was knocked out of qualifying as he couldn't improve on his lap, while Verstappen made it through.

And although there was criticism of the reigning world champion at the time, non-TV broadcast footage has emerged which absolves the Dutchman of most of the blame.

F1TV onboard cameras showed that Verstappen was actually overtaken by Ocon before the start/finish straight, and the pair crossed the line within tenths of each other.

You can see the footage below.

Verstappen then decided to re-pass the Alpine into turn one, but by then the damage was already done for both drivers.

The Dutchman called his rival an 'idiot' on team radio, although Ocon wasn't entirely pleased either.

His team-mate Pierre Gasly, who qualified in fourth place, was much happier with his session, telling official team media: "It went amazing - I'm very happy. We expected to have some difficulties this weekend.

"I'm pleased, and hopefully tomorrow can be a nice surprise again."

Featured Image Credit: F1TV

Topics: Max Verstappen, Formula 1, Red Bull Racing

Live in constant hope of the top flight as a Preston North End fan. Written in the past for SPORF, GiveMeSport and more.