Verstappen blow as car breaks down
MAX VERSTAPPEN was dealt a setback in his bid to win tomorrow’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after he broke down in practice.
The afternoon running in Imola for the second instalment of the championship was barely 10 minutes old when a mechanical failure ended Verstappen’s participation.
The Dutchman, bidding to avenge defeat to Lewis Hamilton at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix last month, pulled over at the end of the pit straight before returning to the Red Bull garage, with his team reporting a suspected driveshaft failure.
Verstappen, who had managed only five laps, was left as a helpless bystander as Valtteri Bottas completed a practice double for Mercedes ahead of team-mate Hamilton.
Verstappen will be back for qualifying today, but the loss of track time could prove costly for the 23-year-old as he looks to take the title fight to Hamilton.
The champion opened his bid for an unprecedented eighth world title with a defensive masterclass to keep Verstappen at bay and win in Bahrain. But in terms of outright pace, Mercedes had few answers for Verstappen and Red Bull at the curtain raiser.
However, the black machines appear in better shape in Imola after completing a one-two finish in both of yesterday’s sessions. Bottas ended the day just 0.010 seconds clear of Hamilton, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly in third, 0.078 secs off the pace.
“The team have worked really hard to try to understand what happened at the last race, where we were weak and how we could tweak the set-up, but the track has come to our direction, too,” said Hamilton.
“We have good pace but we have not seen the best from Red Bull yet because they have had messy sessions. It will be interesting to see tomorrow how quick they are.”
The afternoon action proved largely uneventful in comparison to the opening running which saw Esteban Ocon and Sergio
Perez collide and Nikita Mazepin crash out in his Haas.
A widespread technical failure meant drivers were unable to speak with their respective pit walls over the radio. Indeed, the stewards determined that the communication woes had a role in Ocon and Perez’s collision.
Perez sustained a left-rear puncture while Ocon was forced out with damage to the front right of his Alpine but both men returned for the second session. Mazepin was also able to take part in the concluding action after he crashed out at the final corner in the closing moments of the opening running.
With the technical problems fixed for second practice, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finished fourth and fifth for Ferrari, but the latter was another driver in the wars.
With just three minutes remaining, the Monegasque lost control of his Ferrari through the left-handed turn 18 before running over the gravel and into the wall.
“I am sorry, guys,” said over the radio. pushing quite a bit.”
Leclerc “I was
We have good pace but we have not seen the best of Red Bull yet