A brake fire that melted the rear-right corner of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull after just five laps eliminated the Dutchman from the Australian Grand Prix.
After Max Verstappen’s disappointing DNF Down Under, he appeared to have a heated conversation with a Red Bull mechanic. Christian Horner has since corrected the record.
Verstappen qualified first for the Australian Grand Prix and went on to win the race for the tenth time in a row. However, as soon as the race started, smoke started to come out of the back of his car, and Carlos Sainz easily passed him.
A few minutes later, it was all over when he had to pull into the pits and retire due to a brake that had caught fire. Verstappen was seen talking animatedly to a mechanic after exiting the vehicle and taking off his helmet. He also seemed to mouth the word “Stupid.”
However, team manager Horner stated following the race that, given the circumstances, his driver had actually been “very gracious” with his teammates. “It goes without saying that a driver who gets out of a retirement car is going to be frustrated,” he said.
He’s been really kind to the team and all of the mechanics, in my opinion. Everyone is harmed in the same way by it. It is important to draw lessons from it. It’s amazing that we haven’t had any mechanical DNFs in the last two years.
It’s important to comprehend what led to it, take what you can from it, and move on. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from today, but it’s amazing that he’s still leading the championship after three races despite that DNF.”
After the formation lap, Verstappen claimed that the brakes on that particular wheel had seize up, and he compared the race start to “driving with the handbrake on.” He recalled what had been said when questioned about that conversation with his mechanic by reporters after it had ended.
“That was related to us making a pit stop while the car was on fire,” he clarified. “Why are we making a pit stop?” I thought to myself. While the mechanics were putting out the fire, they also replaced the other three wheels. However, it was determined very quickly that the car could not continue due to the extent of the damage.
The standings leader is now concentrated on winning again in Japan the following time around. He declared: “It kind of excites me because I want to win. It goes without saying that we had a string of excellent races and excellent dependability. I always knew the day would come when you would have to retire, and sadly, that day was today.
“You do realize that we’ve already had a fantastic two years? That in and of itself is pretty impressive. Naturally, though, you never want to witness it. But now that we know why it occurred, it’s more significant.”
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