Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Yas Marina, 2019

Verstappen hit by turbo lag problem after pit stop

2019 F1 season

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A turbo lag problem slowed Max Verstappen after his pit stop in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Red Bull has confirmed.

Halfway around the first lap after he pitted, Verstappen complained of power lag at corner exits and said his car had a “handbrake effect” as well.

“He picked up a bit of turbo lag after the pit stop,” team principal Christian Horner con So we’re just investigating why that happened. So you could hear the switch changes that were going on to try and help him with that.”

Horner said the problem was not serious and didn’t have an effect on Verstappen’s eventual finishing position, second, 16 seconds behind race winner Lewis Hamilton.

“It was just not quite optimal,” said Horner. “But Max wanted to get every ounce of performance out of the car, so because he was getting a bit of turbo lag which interrupts your rhythm with the lap.”

Verstappen said he was unaware what caused the problem. “I’m not sure yet what happened exactly because they didn’t want to tell me on the radio,” he said.

“They just said there was nothing they could do from their side, so then it also doesn’t matter what it is. I’ll have to find out.”

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Selected Verstappen radio messages from after his pit stop

Verstappen:Massive lag out of corners.
To Verstappen:Understood. Stand by.
Verstappen:Something’s not correct.
To Verstappen:Engine 11, position eight.
Verstappen:I’ve got a massive handbrake effect as well.
To Verstappen:Understood, we’re looking at it.
Verstappen:Still the same.
To Verstappen:OK I’ll get back to you.
Verstappen:How come this suddenly is a problem?
To Verstappen:We’re looking at it Max, just calm for the moment, refocus.
To Verstappen:Engine 11, position 11.
Verstappen:It’s still really poor.
To Verstappen:Understood, I’ll get back to you.
To Verstappen:OK Max can we try engine 11 position four, please feedback if it’s worse.
Verstappen:After the pit stop something happened, I don’t know what it is.
To Verstappen:We may not be able to do too much about it at this stage. We’re looking at it, Max, we’ll update you as and when.
Verstappen:What I have now is the best compromise.
To Verstappen:Understood. Keep us posted.
Verstappen:Yeah just please help me with my problems with the engine because it’s slowing me down.
Verstappen:This feel, it just feels like a massive torque hole in the beginning of my throttle map.
To Verstappen:Understood. There is nothing we can do about it, Max, there is nothing we can do about it at this stage. You’re going to have to live with it. You’re quicker now.
To Verstappen:Engine three position 13 when you can. Not urgent.

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2019 F1 season

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5 comments on “Verstappen hit by turbo lag problem after pit stop”

  1. that radio call when VER asked if Ferrari double-pitted their drivers was so funny. He could hear over his engineer’s radio that the wheel guns in the neighbouring garage were working longer than usual. It always amazes me how these guys can drive at 300kph and still be so aware of everything that happens around them.

    1. At first
      ‘My tyres are still okay”
      Later
      “Ferrari doing two stops…? hegh hegh”

      He knew he had P2 in the pocket as soon as Charles needed his first stop that soon

      1. Matn, you’d have thought that having that position secure would have been rather more obvious by the fact that Verstappen had a pace advantage of more than a second a lap over Leclerc at the time and was comfortably pulling away from him.

    2. Mega fast response and big brain capacity I guess.

    3. One of my favorite things as well. Related to that – I find driver troubleshooting the car, changing configurations based on feedback from the pitwall to be very entertaining as well. I know some people feel it degrades the sport but I disagree.

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