The first season as a world champion couldn’t have started any worse for Max Verstappen. The new # 1 of the Circus, protagonist in Bahrain of a spectacular duel for the victory against Charles Leclerc, would almost certainly have crossed the finish line in second position, behind the Monegasque, but was forced to technical knockout – literally – from a reliability problem of his RB18. A problem that at the moment does not seem to have found a univocal explanation but that certainly made Verstappen quite angry, who appeared in the interviews after the race rather dark in the face and already worried about the outcome that this zero could have in terms of the championship.
The Hasselt native did not only lose points from Ferraris, in fact, but also from Lewis Hamilton. A problem in perspective, should Mercedes return to compete for victories, perhaps starting with European races. If, on the other hand, the challenge for the title were to turn into a head-to-head directed against Leclerc, perhaps it would be even worse for the former # 33. Being 26 points short of the first race in fact, despite the very long calendar, guarantees the Monegasque a ‘bonus’ to be able to spend during the season. To complicate the thoughts of the Milton Keynes team there is obviously also the withdrawal of the second car, driven by Sergio Perez, who had to raise the white flag at the start of the last lap. The stop of the Mexican completed the Sunday to forget for the team headed by Christian Horner.
Listening to Verstappen’s radio messages between laps 53 and 54, immediately before retiring, it is clear that the driver is absolutely convinced that the fault concerns the battery. However, different indications arrive from his box, which however do not enter into the specifics of the fault. It is also interesting to see how, according to the communications, both the orange driver himself was the first to report a malfunction on his RB18, without the team initially realizing anything. Then, after a few moments, Max Verstappen’s track engineer – Gianpiero Lambiase – opens up with his driver confirming that the team has identified the problem.
Laps 53-54 / 57
Verstappen: “What is the gap behind?”.
Red Bull: “0.9”.
Verstappen: “Hey, what’s up with the drums?”
Red Bull: “Gap behind 1.2. The battery is fine ”.
Verstappen: “No it isn’t! What the f ** is this? “.
Red Bull: “Hold on Max”.
Verstappen: “The engine is fucking!”.
Red Bull: “Yes, received Max. It is not connected to the battery”.
Red Bull: “We can see the Max problem. It’s not related to the battery.”
Verstappen: “What can we do?”.
Red Bull: “There isn’t much we can do.”
Red Bull: “Ok, try to take Max to the pit lane, please.”
#Verstappen #radio #team #retreat #FormulaPassionit