Red Bull take Max Verstappen action after mistake before Australia GP | F1 | Sport

Red Bull head of racing Gianpiero Lambiase revealed a split-strategy him and his mechanices ran for their drivers to see what can be changed in the car. However, in the second session, things went wrong for the Milton Keynes-based F1 giants as Verstappen’s car went careering off into the Albert Park gravel. It was a scary moment for the four-time F1 world drivers’ champion as he had to steer his way out of a potentially dangerous crash. While it was not as bad as it could have been, there will be a lot of work for the blue brand’s mechanics.

Speaking about Verstappen’s mistake in turn 10 of FP2, Monaghan said: “I’ll say there’s enough to keep us busy. “It’s recoverable. It’s nothing that drastic, but it’s a bit of a thump, so we’ll tidy it up and go again.”

With bits of carbon fibre flying up behind Verstappen’s motor at the time, Sky Sports reporter Ted Kravitz commented on the incident, saying: “They have seen the telemetry that Max has made a mess of the floor. There’s grass on the front wing and the front part of the floor. Max has damaged the bargeboard and the T-tray.”

While Verstappen’s car is certainly not destroyed by any means, it could prove to be a headache for the Red Bull mechanical team. As well as the damage, Lambiase also said there are other things they want to look at ahead of this weekend’s race in Melbourne.

He added: “We made a few tweaks to the cars, testing opposing directions for P2. Obviously, Max had limited running, unfortunately, with various issues, which we hope to resolve overnight. Operationally, there are a few things we need to address to ensure that we don’t slip up going into qualifying and the race as well.”

While Verstappen’s car will need a lot of work, the Red Bull team felt positive about Hadjar’s display. Monaghan, addressing how both drivers are feeling about their cars, added: “Isack’s getting his head around it. He’s quite forthright. He knows what he seems to want.

“Max is typically driven, a competitive soul. The car is reasonably well balanced. We had a couple of little issues in P2, so that hindered us a little.

“Our main objective tomorrow is to sort out how we get laps out of this car, whether it’s qualifying or a race situation, and how we learn to repeatedly do that, and know we’re going to get it right. That’s our biggest thing.”