A mix-up by red Bull led to Max Verstappen hitting the wall during second practice at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Verstappen caught his team mate Pierre Gasly as the team’s other car was preparing to begin a lap. As Verstappen caught Gasly in the final corner, he ran wide and made contact with the ‘Wall of Champions’.“I arrived to the last chicane and I had Pierre in front of me,” Verstappen explained. “He was told to speed up but I don’t know exactly what happened then so I arrived into the chicane, and basically in the wake of his car I understeered into the wall.”
The contact forced Verstappen into the pits. “It’s a shame we missed a bit of running because of that,” he said. “When we were running we looked quite decent.”
On the radio Verstappen reported he “hit the wall out of the last corner” because “I had Pierre really close in front.” Gasly’s radio messages show he was warned about Verstappen when he was already in the braking zone for the final corner.
“They told me quite late when I was preparing my lap behind Romain [Grosjean],” Gasly explained, “and then when they told me I started to push.
“I could see he was like five seconds behind. They told me he hit the wall but I didn’t exactly see what happened so I was trying to prepare my lap.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2019 F1 season
- Crying in the Melbourne car park at 2019 grand prix was my career low – Ocon
- McLaren Racing reports reduced £71 million loss in 2019
- Kvyat: Hockenheim podium last year was “my biggest achievement” so far
- How the FIA’s new encrypted fuel flow meter targets Ferrari’s suspected ‘aliasing’ trick
- “He smashed my office door”: 23 must-see moments from ‘Drive to Survive’ season two
Nitzo (@webtel)
8th June 2019, 8:06
I imagine Helmut isnt so happy with how things have progressed in one of the two garages. Even the slightest of errors from Pierre will start to look big especially now that rumors/fake news of Hulkenberg moving to RBR are doing the rounds already.
But objectively, just by looking at the finishes and the times, Gasly has been a disappointment. He came in with a lot of promise. I wonder how Sainz would have fared in that Red Bull this year…
bosyber (@bosyber)
8th June 2019, 8:27
But this surely was a team foul, not something he could do much about @webtel; now, I agree that doesn’t correlate strongly with him not getting this put on his record by dr. Marko, but it is not an actual indication of him failing. If anything, maybe it shows that the team isn’t as prepared to deal with two equal attention drivers as they themselves believe, and say.
Nitzo (@webtel)
8th June 2019, 10:26
@bosyber
I really hope thats the case. But is he really maximizing the performance from that Red Bull ? He has a few good 6th place finishes –the least you can expect from RBH. He is no Max V, but when the performance gaps tend to be significant, questions seem to arise. For now, sixth places finishes will do no harm whatsoever and that is good for him and the team if they are aiming to beat Ferrari in the WCC.
The way i see, Red bull’s team ethos hasn’t changed much over the years. They always have their preferences and priorities. They say they believe so that we also believe. :-P
Mayrton
8th June 2019, 11:46
In Pierre’s defense, he is being measured against Max. Not a desirable position to be in for anyone, bar perhaps Lewis
Marcel
8th June 2019, 9:45
uhm…. Pierre is not telling the truth here… If you watch his onbaord with team radio on F1TV you know he was told all the way from the hairpin every 5 seconds where Max was and when he arrived at the chicane, his engineer was counting down the gap in seconds…. Pierre never responded until the gap was only 2 seconds.
If you watch the onboard from Max his car, he gained so fast towards Pierre, he was never going to be able to abort the lap at the last moment, so he just caught the wake of Pierres car and was a passenger.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
8th June 2019, 16:54
Certainly a Max V. Can handle some dirty air?
HK (@me4me)
8th June 2019, 11:13
Another mistake by Pierre and his engineer. Not really good enough, is it?