Verstappen highlights the most embarrassing moment of his Formula 1 career

Max Verstappen has revealed what was for him the most embarrassing moment of his Formula 1 career. It turns out it had everything to do with an unexpected pit stop at the United States Grand Prix in 2016.

Verstappen is now a double world champion, but the Limburger was also a rookie. In 2016, only his second season in the sport, the Dutchman was promoted from Toro Rosso to Red Bull Racing, where he joined Daniel Ricciardo. During the race weekend in the United States, Verstappen had a good qualifying, posting the fourth fastest time, just behind his teammate. Sunday also went well at first, until Verstappen made a rather unfortunate mistake.

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In conversation with Motorsport.com Verstappen says his thinking wasn’t quite right when his team told him he needed to attack: ‘So you’re assuming you’re going to come in on that lap, that’s why I sped up’, it seems -he. “And then I drove into the pit lane. I drove into the pit lane and then I realized I hadn’t been called at all. They never told me to stop At that moment, I thought, ‘My God, what am I? do here.'”

Breakdown

The Dutchman continues: “I said on the on-board radio: ‘Guys, I’m in the pit lane. I’m coming, I’m coming.’ That’s when I saw the mechanics getting exhausted with the tyres. The stoppage, of course, lasted eight or ten seconds, which was still very fast.” In the end, it made little difference, as after 31 laps Verstappen had to retire due to a mechanical problem.