Garage fenced off with yellow tape, mechanics with gloves and lots of work on the car. It wasn’t an ideal start to the weekend for Max Verstappen, who ended Friday’s Canadian Grand Prix with a total of just 14 laps due to an ERS hybrid system issue that forced him to park his RB20 in the pits after a few minutes from the start of FP2.
In fact, if the first session had already seen reduced mileage due to the rain that fell before the start of the session which pushed the teams to keep the intermediate for the rest of the weekend, in FP2 the technical problems that emerged after a few laps.
Smoke was immediately noticed from the Dutchman’s car coming from the rear as he was returning to the pits, with Verstappen himself reporting a burning smell via radio, suggesting that portable fans be ready to cool the car. Once it arrived in the pits, the car was immediately isolated for safety reasons linked to a problem with the electrical part, as among other things indicated by the LED on the single-seater itself, with the mechanics having to wait and use protective gloves.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
Once given the green light from the systems, the team began to disassemble the car to get to the heart of the problem, but immediately encountered further complications, given the difficulties in removing the bonnet panel that covers the car on the right side. Only after several attempts with special tools did the mechanics manage to remove the panel, starting the replacement of some elements of the Power Unit for the rest of the weekend.
“Unfortunately I didn’t complete many laps in FP2, it’s probably an electrical problem, they told me to stop,” explained Verstappen at the end of free practice two. Undoubtedly the Dutchman would have liked to ride more consistently, also because the experience accumulated in mixed or wet conditions could prove useful for the rest of the weekend, given that the forecast indicates a real possibility of adverse weather for Saturday and Sunday too.
“It’s not ideal, I would have liked to ride more and do more laps. Other drivers completed more laps in the dry, others more laps in the wet. It’s definitely not how I would like FP2 to have gone, but that’s how it went. I think the important thing is to understand exactly what happened and the reasons, whether it will have consequences on the rest of this weekend and on the rest of the championship”, added Verstappen, who underlined the importance of understanding the reasons behind the failure technical, as well as understanding the long-term consequences, i.e. whether the unit can be used again in the rest of the season or whether it is irrecoverable.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
In fact, a new Power Unit had just been fitted on the three-time world champion’s Red Bull, replacing the engine, turbo, MGU-K and MGU-H, while both the battery and the control unit had already been used previously.
The head of the Milton Keynes team, Christian Horner, also confirmed that it was a problem with the hybrid part of the car. Not having time to thoroughly analyze the problem during the session, we opted for the direct replacement of the units involved, in order to have the car ready for the Saturday sessions, with the analyzes postponed to the night and the next few days: ” It was a problem at ERS. That will be something we will change for tomorrow, but we didn’t have enough time to do that in the session today. We lost time, but in this weather the session wasn’t useful.”
“I think the Power Unit is ok, it’s a problem with the ERS. We need to take it off tonight and figure out what happened,” Horner explained. The Red Bull Team Principal also added that, in the few laps completed, Verstappen found a good feeling with the car, but clearly this is only initial feedback given the few kilometers completed.
#Verstappen #Stop #due #ERS #problems #understand
