Unplanned Max Verstappen pit stop 'came from nowhere'
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner says Max Verstappen’s chaotic unscheduled pit stop in Austin “came from nowhere.”
Verstappen thought he had been called in and arrived to find that the crew was not expecting him. The Dutchman lost a lot of time, but retired soon after with a gearbox problem.
“For Max, his race unfortunately started to go wrong when he made an unscheduled stop,” Horner said. “He thought he had heard a call the previous lap having got himself confused, and then shortly after pitting the gearbox failed. It was a shame because I think without that he would have had a clear run to fourth position.
“It is something totally unusual. He just arrived in the pit lane, said ‘I am in the pit lane,’” he added. “So, we are not very good at fitting tires when we don’t know they are coming in. It was a shame for him but ultimately it came to nothing because of the DNF.”
Meanwhile, his Red Bull Racing teammate Daniel Ricciardo took third after the Virtual Safety Car allowed Nico Rosberg to jump him for second.
“We cannot be too disappointed with today,” said Horner. “Ultimately we got a podium out of the race, we have extended our lead in the constructors’ championship by three points over Ferrari.”
Regarding Ricciardo’s frustration, Horner said: “If things had gone right, we would have had track position to Nico, who would have fitted the softer tire. He would have had a pace advantage, and he would have had to fight for the second place on track rather than be gifted it with the VSC.”
Horner also said the team’s good form relative to Ferrari was a positive.
“Here is slightly less power sensitive than Suzuka, I think we have had the upper hand on Ferrari all weekend here and we were fortunate that through Kimi’s DNF it neutralised our DNF, but still three races to go and a lot of points available,” Horner added.
“I think Mexico hopefully should be similar to here, because of the altitude. You are running around with Monaco downforce, but it equating to Monza load.”
