Max Verstappen singles out Red Bull mechanics after breaking Belgian Grand Prix curfew

Max Verstappen thanked his Red Bull mechanics for going the extra mile after they breached the Belgian Grand Prix's curfew on Friday evening, before the Dutchman went fastest during qualifying the following day.

"Well done everyone and thank you to the mechanics for working so late, last lap, great job, thank you very much," Verstappen said over his team radio after breezing through qualifying, though he had pole position taken away from him due to a 10-place grid penalty.

But before the session, Red Bull were found guilty of breaching Formula One regulations as their mechanics worked on Verstappen's car past permitted hours.

However, all teams are allowed two exemptions throughout the season, with Red Bull taking their first in Belgium in order to avoid any punishment.

A statement from the FIA read: "Last night team personnel of the Oracle Red Bull Racing team, who are associated with the operation of the car, were within the confines of the circuit during the eleven-and-a-half-hour period which commenced at 22:00 on 26 July, fourteen and a half hours before the scheduled start time of P3 and ends three hours before the scheduled start time of P3 at 09:30 on 27 July.

"This was the first of the two individual exceptions permitted for the Oracle Red Bull Racing team during the 2024 Formula One Championship season and therefore no action should be taken."

The work undertaken appeared to have the desired effect though, with Verstappen taking the fastest time by 0.6 seconds. His team-mate Sergio Perez also went third after a much-improved qualifying session.

Verstappen knew that he would be facing a big grid penalty after exceeding his permitted number of engine components and hopes that luck is on his side for Sunday's race.

"I know that I have to start 10 places back so this was the best I could do today, and I go from there," the Dutchman said in his post-race interview. "I don’t know how quick we’re going to be. I hope that we can be in the mix to try to move forward.

"The race can be lost in Turn 1, so just need to see what happens at the start, naturally, and just go from there. It’s a very long race, it’s very hard on tyres and we just need to try to manage that as good as we can, and hopefully then we can be competitive tomorrow.

"We are not making it easy on ourselves and especially of course in the battle that we’re in. I know that today was a great day, but it’s in the wet, we need to be quick in the dry tomorrow. It’s going to be a tough battle. We’ll try to do the best we can. Hopefully we can battle the Ferrari and Mercedes ahead, and if we have a bit of luck, maybe we can challenge the McLaren."