The hard-fought qualifying in Canada also brought a lot of excitement to Red Bull. On a difficult Saturday, Max Verstappen was painfully close to taking Pole position ahead of George Russell. Verstappen was also summoned to the stewards for a pit lane infringement, although no penalty was awarded. Meanwhile, it was another day to forget for Sergio Perez – who qualified in P16.
THE INVESTIGATION INTO THE PIT LANE EPISODE ENDS WITH NOTHING
After qualifying in Montreal, Verstappen was summoned by the stewards for not respecting the Race Director’s instructions in the pit lane. The three-time World Champion shoved his way through the queue of cars in the pits. He spent a few minutes just outside his garage before putting himself forward.
This raised questions related to Article 34.8 of the Sporting Regulations, which states:
“Once a car has left the garage or pit stop location, it should immediately enter the overtaking lane, do it in complete safety and without unnecessarily hindering the cars that are already in it.”
After listening to Verstappen himself and a Red Bull representative, the stewards reviewed the incident:
The team declared at the hearing that it presumed that car 1 had crossed the white line separating the overtaking lane from the working lane when released from the garage and that the procedure described in Article 34.8 had, therefore, been followed to leave the pit lane in the order in which the cars arrived. The Stewards determined that this assumption was inaccurate, as none of the wheels of car 1 had crossed the solid white line separating the lanes. […] “.
Despite Red Bull’s inaccuracy, the stewards justified their failure to take action against Verstappen as follows:
“Car 1 was not in the fast lane at the start of the session. The regulations and the Race Director’s notes require the driver to enter the overtaking lane as soon as it is safe to do so.
“Meaning that it is possible to do so if there is adequate space in a queue of cars in the overtaking lane and without obstructing them. uselessly. The Stewards maintain that these requirements have been met and are taking no further action .”
VERSTAPPEN: “OVERALL A GOOD QUALIFYING”
Speaking about his qualifying result, Verstappen was satisfied. Despite barely missing out on Pole Position, he can be pleased with his pace. Ferrari failed to reach the top 10, which is good news for his World Championship aspirations.
“Overall, we had a good qualifying. The whole weekend was a bit complicated for us, but I accept being second,” said Verstappen.
“Going into qualifying, I would definitely have taken it. The fact that we were so close at the end makes it really exciting for the race, too.”
Looking ahead to the race, tyres and weather will be two determining factors, according to Verstappen:
“This weekend, once again, we haven’t had a great preparation until today. It will be quite an interesting race regarding the tyres, seeing how they behave. Also, the weather, with the rain continuing to come in and out. We hope it will be very exciting .”
Verstappen’s weekend didn’t start in the best way. In Free Practice 2, a newly fitted engine suffered a failure. The damage was detected in the MGU-K, which, according to the Dutchman, will not be recoverable.
“The rest of the engine is safe, but it’s not what you want when introducing a new unit. It also did a lot of damage.”
We had seen the images of the mechanics busy removing the right part of the belly of his RB20. The failure of the MGU-K caused some damage to the floor and chassis, forcing the men from Milton Keynes to do some extra work. This will not have a major impact in Canada, but it will later in the year.
“I know I will have to serve a penalty during the season.”
PEREZ: “I COULDN’T TURN ON THE TYRE”
It was another Q2 elimination for Perez, whose performance will not help the backlash to his Red Bull contract renewal. He is experiencing a pretty clear decline over the last few weekends.
The Mexican finished in P16 overall. He wasn’t just only far behind Verstappen but also several steps behind the VCARB duo. He was one second behind his teammate at the beginning of qualifying. Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda finished qualifying in fifth and eighth, respectively.
Speaking about his disappointing Saturday, Perez said:
“I think today was a very strange feeling for a lot of cars. As for us, I just couldn’t turn the tyre on and find the grip. It was a total disaster. I think when we got to the end, I couldn’t get an actual lap.”
The Mexican then specified his main problem in the RB20: “Mainly the problem was the rear, the rear axle, I felt it a little worse.”
