Christian Horner has called out the FIA’s decision not to red-flag Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying immediately after Lance Stroll’s crash near the end of Q2.

The Canadian racer found the barriers at the Curva do Sol, but race control waited for the better part of a minute to bring out the red flag. At the time of the shunt, Max Verstappen was tenth and would have progressed, but by the time the session was halted, he had dropped into the bottom five.

This decision had disastrous consequences for Verstappen. With a five-place grid penalty to come, he will start P15 – promoted two spots from P17 with Alex Albon out and Carlos Sainz starting from the pit lane – while title rival Lando Norris cruised to pole position.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 about his immediate response, Horner said: “It’s hugely frustrating. [In] a session like that there’s obviously a huge amount going on. We don’t understand why it took so long for it [the red flag] to come out.

“It was obviously a big accident, one of the most dangerous corners on the circuit, 40 seconds it took to throw the red flag. It’s the second day in a row now that we have had very late calls, whether it was the VSC yesterday or the red flag today. The other red flags were all instantaneous.

“Very, very harsh but it is what it is and we’ve got to try and fight back this afternoon. As soon as you have an accident like that it should be an immediate red flag.

“If they had red-flagged it immediately Max would have been 10th and he would have had time for another lap. We would like to understand the thinking of the race director to understand why it took so long to throw that red flag.”

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