The Inside Story of Max Verstappen’s Floor Damage at the Miami Grand Prix 2024

2024-05-06 15:46:00

Max Verstappen immediately sounded the alarm. “I hit this cone in turn 15. Check the front wing,” asked the leader of the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, at his low wall. “Weak grip, I locked the wheels again!”, he warned, on the 28th of the 57 passes required during the 6th round of the 2024 World Cup.

In a bad mood, the three-time world champion lost everything on the following lap, when the safety car positioned itself in front of the bonnet of his No. 1 RB19, while the new leader, Lando Norris (McLaren) prepared to return to the pits for a “free” stop.

Then, on the 30th lap, we understood that “Super Max” is in deep trouble this Florida Sunday. Unable to hold back the time bleeding behind the McLaren of Lando Norris, the future winner. “I can’t get the car to turn. It’s a disaster!”, he muttered once again on the 39th round.

Floor damage

Powerless against the pace of the Woking car, he settled for second place because he was no match for the invisible forces of physics either. “Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose,” he admitted to Jenson Button’s microphone “Today was complicated with the ‘media’. It didn’t go as well as expected. When we stopped and I heard McLaren’s times behind. I knew they was very fast.. This is something we have to understand. It is not our strongest weekend in terms of racing pace.

He didn’t talk about it, but the cone tearing off his base in Turn 15 may have sealed his fate. “Max was a bit unlucky to get hurt on the floor when he hit the cone on the 21st lap,” his manager, Christian Horner, reacted last Sunday.

The Milton Keynes boss also insisted on the fact that before the incident he managed to widen the gap on the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. The team may want to communicate the flight deficit generated, but it will not change the basic observation: Red Bull has never been able to balance its individual seats with everyone, and the driver paid cash for one of the rare errors of the season.

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