Jos Verstappen, the father to Max Verstappen has defended his son over the radio fiasco took place between Red Bull management and their driver Max in the recently concluded Spanish Grand Prix. During the race, it was seen one of the tire mechanic came late to replace the left rear tire when Max went in for pit stop.
However, it was later understood that it was Max who did come to the pit stop without being asked to box. There was miscommunication between the driver and management as it came out. This pit stop disaster took Verstappen 4 seconds in the pit stop and eventually ended up losing the race to Hamilton, thanks to clever Mercedes strategy.
Two races, same strategy…#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/al4CD0658X
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 9, 2021
Jos, talking about this in an interview, conveyed “When Max crossed the start-finish line, he saw a message on the steering wheel that made him think he had to come in the next lap for a pit stop. Then you go one hundred percent that last lap, to make up as much time as possible. Furthermore, there was no communication anymore, so Max knew no better than to go in.”
Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton leads Red Bull’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen during the afternoon session of the first day of the Formula One (F1) pre-season testing. (Photo by Mazen MAHDI / AFP) (Photo by MAZEN MAHDI/AFP via Getty Images)
Teams tend to avoid much conversation on the radio in order to keep their strategy hidden from their rival teams. Red Bull knew, Mercedes would listen to their conversation and there wasn’t much discussion about pit stop. However, Verstappen senior thinks this can never be an excuse always, the communication has to be sorted out.
😣 Max loses the lead, but boxes for softs 🔴 Both Max and Checo going for Fastest Lap now 🟣 #SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/owoKdwtzsV
— Red Bull Racing Honda (@redbullracing) May 9, 2021
Max’s father Jos further asserted on this, “The team will probably think about how they can do better in terms of communication next time. Not really a mistake for Verstappen, but that does not mean that he is always perfect. “During qualifying in Imola, he made a mistake, he admitted that himself. A problem was also found afterwards, but we don’t want to use that as an excuse.”
