Verstappen says Red Bull found “hole” in car’s floor after bollard incident

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Miami International Autodrome, 2024

Max Verstappen has revealed his Red Bull team found a hole in his car’s floor at the end of the Miami Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver initially believed he had not damaged his car when he went off at turn 14 on lap 21. Verstappen hit a bollard, which passed over the top of his car, and went across the kerbs at the tight chicane.

“When we took the car back to the garage, we also found that the floor was damaged and had a hole in which could have been picked up from hitting the cone,” said Verstappen after the race.

Verstappen led the race until that point, then gave up the lead when he pitted following the Virtual Safety Car period which was triggered so the bollard could be retrieved. Lando Norris took the lead during a later Safety Car period.

Over the final laps Verstappen found his car wasn’t quick enough to attack the McLaren. While Norris had been slightly quicker when the pair were on new medium compound tyres early in the race, the McLaren driver pulled away by 7.6 seconds over the final 25 laps on hard rubber.

Verstappen’s second place was the first time this year he has failed to win a race he has finished. “Ultimately today we were not quick enough,” he said. “The Safety Car did not help us but we still had plenty of opportunities to win the race and unfortunately we lacked pace.”

“We also struggled with the tyres and balance of the car all weekend and I never felt too comfortable in the car. In the high speed I was understeering and we also struggled a lot with the grip with the tyres.

“It wasn’t our best weekend and it really shows that everything needs to work well to win races and it is not as easy as people might think.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free