Max Verstappen took a thinly-veiled swipe at Red Bull for being their own worst enemy after the team’s rare error in the pit stop wrecked their chances of victory at the Formula 1 2024 Austrian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman was cruising towards an eighth victory of the season with a comfortable eight-second gap over Lando Norris in second place before he pitted for his second and final stop of the 71-lap race.
That led to a feisty clash with Norris, with Verstappen refusing to take the blame for their collision which forced the McLaren star to retire.
Red Bull are so often the leaders in quick and efficient pit stops, but an issue with the left rear wheelnut cost Verstappen around four seconds in the pitlane. He came out three seconds ahead of Norris, but the McLaren star was on fresh medium tyres compared to Verstappen’s used set.
The 24-year-old homed in on Verstappen and managed to make a move up the inside of the Dutchman, only to be bumped off the track at Turn 3, and both drivers suffered punctures to their rear tyres.
Verstappen refuses to take blame
Verstappen, who appeared to avoid taking responsibility for the clash, also took aim at Red Bull over the series of errors committed by the team and for putting his victory in jeopardy.
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“I’ve had a lot of battles in my career. This incident is just one thing, if you look at the race, we did so many things wrong – from the strategy to really bad pitstops,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1.
“Then you put yourself in that position. And that is the worst thing about it because we basically also created it for ourselves.
“In the first stint it wasn’t too bad and then basically, it just became worse and worse to drive, so we need to look into the car as well as something went wrong or whatever during the race.”
Red Bull won’t need telling that their error cost them the victory, having been way out in front and secured victory in the F1 Sprint. But the Austrian team – who endured a disastrous end to their home race – may feel Verstappen was culpable after he was slapped with a 10-second penalty by the stewards for crashing into Norris.
But the three-time champion appeared to reject claims his driving was beyond the remit of the regulations. Verstappen said: “Everyone can have their own opinion. I’m the one driving, so I think I’m best in control… let’s say like that.
“From the outside, it’s easy to judge and comment. But whatever, it’s what happens.”
