Things were going well for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the United States Grand Prix, until disaster struck. The Dutchman had made a pit stop, but when he arrived at the pit box, the team wasn’t ready for him. Verstappen has said that the issue was his mistake.
The incident occurred when Max Verstappen pitted on lap 27 for a set of medium compound tyres. Upon arriving at the pit box, the team members were still in the garage and their wheel guns were still in their covers. The mechanics scrambled to grab the tyres and make the change, with the pit stop only taking roughly 13 seconds, which is only 10 seconds longer than we would have expected, had the mechanics been ready.
Max Verstappen explained the issue and his eventual retirement from the United States Grand Prix:
“The pit stop issue was my misunderstanding, the team had asked me to push the lap before so I thought I was going to be coming in. I pitted and then realised they hadn’t actually made the call, luckily it didn’t affect the end result. Shortly after I had come back on track I heard a banging noise coming from the engine so I pulled the clutch, they then asked me to release it again and keep going so they could try and work out what it was, unfortunately we couldn’t solve it and it ended my race.”
Force India had a similar incident at the Hungarian Grand Prix when Sergio Pérez lost time in the pits due to a miscommunication on the pit wall. In Verstappen’s case, the team’s amazing recovery efforts in the pit box didn’t really matter. He parked the car only three laps later for a gearbox failure, which disadvantaged teammate Daniel Ricciardo, as the virtual safety car allowed Nico Rosberg to take a free pit stop.
Red Bull wasn’t the only team to have an issue in the pits, with Ferrari’s pit stop error putting an end to Kimi Räikkönen’s race.
Weekend Summary: 2016 United States Grand Prix
Ferrari Fined For Räikkönen Pitstop
Miscommunication To Blame For Pérez Pit Stop
