Back in 2015, Max Verstappen had just made a full-time debut in F1 with Toro Rosso and a blunder from his crew led him into serving a punishment.
Ahead of the qualifying session of the 2015 Italian Grand Prix, the Toro Rosso team changed the engine of Verstappen’s car enabling him to only go out for an installation lap at the end of the Q1 session.
While the Dutchman was on the track accelerating towards the Curva Grande, his engine cover emphatically blew off unfurling debris all over the track.
Verstappen, a rookie at the time admitted that the team had hurried up the process and had failed to bolt the bodywork completely.
2015 Italian GP, #Renault‘s V6 engine exposed on Max #Verstappen‘s #STR10 🏎️ pic.twitter.com/qcOBIxsKgB
— Formula Hell (@formulahell) December 25, 2021
Also Read: Helmut Marko dismisses Daniel Ricciardo’s chances of replacing Mexican driver at Red Bull
Max Verstappen was penalised for an unsafe release
Following the incident, the team was reported to the stewards and they laid a drive-through penalty on the young driver. The FIA cited “car released in an unsafe condition on its first run in qualifying” as the reason.
At the time, Verstappen had revealed that the bodywork was only 50% secured with the bolts and the team had believed that it would still hold on as it is quite strong.
The Dutchman felt a bit of vibration before and then the whole cover blew off which led him into running a bald car on the track before slowing down.
Lack of trust between the Red Bull drivers
Red Bull’s child prodigy, Max Verstappen, now is a 2-time world champion in a row and many believe that his teammate Sergio Perez contributed a lot in making that happen.
The Mexican driver famously held off Verstappen’s 2021 rival Lewis Hamilton for several laps during the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi helping the Dutchman achieve his target. Verstappen even named him the ‘Minister of Defense’ after Perez’s spectacular run at the Yas Marina Circuit.
However, in the 2023 season, while the title battle was quite easy for Verstappen following Ferrari’s blunders, his harmonious relationship with Perez took a major hit.
It began in Monaco when Perez crashed out in qualifying denying his teammate the chance to improve his time which led him to start the race from P4.
It is believed that the Dutchman has held grudges against his teammate due to that. Later in the season at Brazil GP, Verstappen denied team orders to let Perez by in a battle of P6 and P7.
Sky Sports commentator, David Croft labelled it as “trust issues between the teammates.”
Also Read: Lewis Hamilton does not bank on “close relationship” with Mick Schumacher
