Full extent of Max Verstappen car damage comes to light after two Miami GP incidents

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen during practice for the 2024 Miami Grand Prix.

Almost collected by team-mate Sergio Perez before later taking out a bollard, Max Verstappen was left with floor damage which Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said made P2 even a “pretty decent result”.

While clear of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in the opening stages of the Miami GP, Verstappen was struggling to ditch the Aussie and it was clear just how much he was pushing after an off at the Turn 14-15 chicane, Verstappen dislodging the bollard on his way back onto the track.

Did Sergio Perez leave a scratch for Max Verstappen?

Horner would reveal that damage was found to the underside of the car, Verstappen having confirmed that a “hole” was left in the floor, potentially from that bollard strike, while a “scratch” was found on his diffuser which may have come from team-mate Sergio Perez, who came oh so close to wiping out the Dutchman into Turn 1 at the start.

That floor damage would prove very costly for Verstappen, who found himself consigned to P2 after McLaren’s Lando Norris was able to pit under the Safety Car and retain the lead, as he strode away from Verstappen from there and raced on to his maiden Formula 1 victory.

Reflecting on Verstappen’s race, Horner told media personnel: “I don’t think we had a great balance all weekend and then obviously, he hit the bollard around Lap 20 and that’s actually done quite a bit of damage to the underside of the car.

“We’ll have to look at exactly what the effect of that was, but he had enough pace at that point, he was pulling clear of Oscar behind and Lando before picking up that damage.

“And thereafter we then pitted and the Safety Car came out at the best time for Lando, gave him essentially a free stop. But obviously, not great for us, because then you’re on five, six laps, seven laps older [tyres] and with the damage, I think, second place was actually still a pretty decent result.

“So I think we have to congratulate Lando on his first victory. It’s always a big moment for any grand prix driver to win their first race. So congrats to him and to McLaren.

“But, we’ve still managed to score the most points in the Drivers’ [Championship] this weekend with a sprint race yesterday and it’s the most in the Constructors’ as well. So it’s still been a very strong weekend.”

Asked for further details on the extent of the damage on Verstappen’s RB20, Horner replied: “It’s a reasonable amount through the area around the left rear floor.

“There’s a reasonable amount that’s missing and you can see it’s all been flexing as well.

“So, it certainly wouldn’t be helping.”

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Verstappen was lucky not to suffer race-ending damage at the first turn as Perez avoided him by the narrowest of margins, or perhaps did not, considering Verstappen found that diffuser scratch after the race.

Horner described Perez’s start as “optimistic”, expressing his relief that both Red Bulls made it out of that first turn.

“His start was optimistic,” said Horner of Perez.

“Charles [Leclerc] didn’t have a great start ahead and I think that caused Checo, he had to lift for Charles and then he left him a window into the first corner. He went for it and then obviously got in very deep and was lucky not to collect Max at the first turn and then collect the Ferrari coming back onto the track after the first turn.

“I was pleased to see both cars survive that.”

Verstappen made his only pit stop on Lap 24 of the race, but just a flew laps later, Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant collided, triggering the Safety Car and that golden opportunity for Norris.

Asked why Verstappen was brought in when he was, Horner replied: “We could see that Leclerc was starting to come a little closer and it was kind of the optimal time in the strategy.

“So the pit stop, of course, Lando you can see, everybody else has pitted, he’s then effectively picked up a free stop. And then you’ve got the benefit that you’ve got younger tyres as well. But then you’ve got to go and win the race, so he did a very good job in delivering his first victory.”

And on that front, Horner was quizzed on whether he felt Norris had the pace to win without that Safety Car-shaped gift?

Horner said that is not a question he had an answer for, but did suggest that overtaking could have proven very difficult had Norris made his pit stop under normal circumstances.

“I think what we saw today was [it was] very difficult to come through the traffic and who knows? That’s something that we won’t be able to answer,” said Horner, “because there wasn’t a huge amount of overtaking in the race, certainly in the top 10.

“So it would have all depended where he came out after his pit stop, which would have probably been third or fourth.”

Verstappen and Red Bull will look to get back to winning ways next time out at Imola.