Tuscan Grand Prix: Verstappen Furious After His Start
After a supersonic start, Max Verstappen suffered a loss of power. A collision with Kimi Räikkönen definitively sealed the fate of the Dutch driver, who retired at the second corner.
For Max Verstappen, it’s the breakdown that’s too much! Even before the start of the Tuscan Grand Prix, mechanics were bustling around car number 33 trying to resolve a technical issue.
At lights out, Max Verstappen managed the hardest part by taking advantage of Lewis Hamilton’s poor start to barely hold onto second position. He suffered a loss of power a few meters later, being overtaken by the bulk of the pack.
At the microphone of his radio, the number 1 driver of the Red Bull team let his very raw anger explode: « … it’s shit! » exclaimed the driver before he was hit by Räikkönen, then stuck in the gravel trap of the 2nd corner.
This is already Verstappen’s third engine problem in a race in 2020! The second in seven days, after the Monza mishaps. For a team aiming to compete with Mercedes this year, reliability is clearly an issue.
For Verstappen, the contact with Räikkönen is just the consequence of his engine problem. If the collision hadn’t happened, he would have retired anyway. Known for his straightforwardness, Max Verstappen openly criticized the engine supplier Honda, which will have a bit more time before the Sochi Grand Prix to sort out the power unit of the Dutchman’s car.
Verstappen got a slow start and radioed to the team that he had no power
He then got caught up in a midfield tangle before ploughing into the gravel at Turn 2 ????#TuscanGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/v89iNL2S2D
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 13, 2020
