Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing RB19 leaves the pits. 24.11.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 23, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, Practice Day.
Max Verstappen has blamed his Formula 1 rivals for a “silly” pitlane incident during second practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Friday evening’s FP2 session saw heavy disruption following a lengthy red flag spell which was triggered by a hefty shunt from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz at Turn 3.
After a 20-minute delay for barrier repairs, a spin from Nico Hulkenberg on the exit of Turn 1 led to a further red flag spell in the only representative session before qualifying.
After squeezing his way past both Mercedes drivers through the narrow Yas Marina pitlane exit, Verstappen also swept by Pierre Gasly’s Alpine when the session restarted.
Verstappen’s antics resulted in a complaint from George Russell over the team radio, but the Dutchman has claimed that the incident was caused by his competitors.
“I mean, they have to move,” Verstappen explained. “They are all driving slow, and I want to go out because we are limited on time, and they just keep on driving in the middle.
“Then, when I tried to pass, they tried to squeeze me in the wall. So yeah….a bit silly.”
Verstappen has found himself attracting plentiful attention for his pitlane behaviour in recent rounds, including a reprimand for stopping in the fast lane in Singapore.
In Brazil, race director Niels Wittich introduced a directive prohibiting drivers from driving “unnecessarily slow, that includes stopping a car” in the fast lane and that any driver looking to find a gap in the pitlane to do so by keeping as far to the left as possible.
The pitlane antics weren’t Verstappen’s only concerns as he was left to rue an unbalanced RB19 in his maiden outing at the Yas Marina Circuit this weekend.
“From our side, the balance is very off,” he said after reporting that his RB19 had been “bouncing like a kangaroo” during the session.
“A lot of understeer, a lot of jumping – so definitely a few things to figure out for tomorrow. I didn’t expect it to be so far off, and also that is a bit of a question mark for us.
“I mean we are still P3, so that’s not too bad. But balance-wise I think it can be a lot better. We will try and have a look at what happened there.”
Sergio Perez (MEX) Red Bull Racing RB19. 24.11.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 23, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, Practice Day.
Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez had looked set to beat Charles Leclerc’s benchmark on his first Soft tyre timed effort before a scruffy final sector saw him abandon the lap.
The Mexican eventually ended up just over a tenth behind Verstappen with the fifth-fastest time and concurred that he also encountered trouble with the RB19’s balance.
“I was struggling a bit with some front end initially, but obviously we hardly got any running, especially on the Medium [tyre],” Perez issued.
“Then, on my Soft run, I had traffic with people doing high fuel at the end, so it wasn’t a very straightforward day, obviously.
“We know that we have to be very careful on which route we take because, I think when I did my lap, the tyres were on the hot side. So yeah, not very representative at that point.”
Both Verstappen and Perez sat out FP1 for Jake Dennis and Isack Hadjar respectively to enable Red Bull to fulfil its obligation to field a rookie driver on each car.
However, with the opening practice hour run in the daytime, Perez believes the interrupted second session provided more of a problem for both him and Verstappen.
“I think FP1 here isn’t very representative,” he noted. “I think it’s more that we didn’t get any long runs, so not ideal in that regard. But it is what it is and look forward to tomorrow.
Keyword: Verstappen blames rivals for ‘silly’ Abu Dhabi pitlane encounter