Red Bull Blame Verstappen’s Slow Monza Pitstop on FIA Change

Red Bull have blamed Max Verstappen's fatefully slow Italian Grand Prix pitstop on human error resulting from a technical directive issued by Formula One's governing body. (Reuters)
Red Bull have blamed Max Verstappen's fatefully slow Italian Grand Prix pitstop on human error resulting from a technical directive issued by Formula One's governing body. (Reuters)
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Red Bull Blame Verstappen’s Slow Monza Pitstop on FIA Change

Red Bull have blamed Max Verstappen's fatefully slow Italian Grand Prix pitstop on human error resulting from a technical directive issued by Formula One's governing body. (Reuters)
Red Bull have blamed Max Verstappen's fatefully slow Italian Grand Prix pitstop on human error resulting from a technical directive issued by Formula One's governing body. (Reuters)

Red Bull have blamed Max Verstappen’s fatefully slow Italian Grand Prix pitstop on human error resulting from a technical directive issued by Formula One’s governing body.

The 11 second stop in last Sunday’s race at Monza dropped championship leader Verstappen into a position where he and Mercedes title rival Lewis Hamilton went wheel to wheel and collided, retiring on the spot.

Verstappen was held to be predominantly to blame and collected a three-place grid penalty for the next race in Russia.

“There was a rare human error in our pit stop, as a result of the new Technical Directive but nonetheless something we need to learn from,” Red Bull boss Christian Horner said in a column on the team website on Friday.

“That slow stop put Max out of synch from where he should’ve been on track. Mercedes compounded that situation as they faltered with their own stop on Hamilton’s car, which meant both drivers were neck and neck.”

He did not give a further explanation but the FIA directive, which came into effect in August, aimed to slow pitstops for safety reasons by preventing the use of any automated systems.

Red Bull had complained in June that the directive was aimed at reducing their advantage.

The team hold the record for the quickest F1 pitstop at 1.82 seconds and had regularly managed to change all four tires in less than two seconds.

Red Bull’s smart wheelguns previously automatically relayed a signal to the mechanic on the front jack as soon as all four wheels were on and tightened, according to the website www.the-race.com.

It said mechanics pressed a button, even before starting to tighten the wheels, but now had to wait until the change was finished. If the button is pressed prematurely, no signal is sent and the procedure has to be repeated.

The collision meant Verstappen left Monza with a five-point lead over Hamilton, gaining two points from Saturday’s experimental sprint qualifying.

Horner said he still felt both drivers were to blame for the incident and “if the FIA wanted to make a statement, they could’ve imposed the same penalty on both.”

He said Verstappen’s penalty would not be such a great handicap for Sochi, however, because of the aerodynamic “tow” cars can collect on the long run to the first corner.



New Boss Hails ‘Near-Perfect Race’ From Rejuvenated Lawson 

Team RB driver Liam Lawson of New Zealand steers his car during qualification ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps racetrack in Spa, Belgium, Saturday, July 26, 2025. (AP)
Team RB driver Liam Lawson of New Zealand steers his car during qualification ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps racetrack in Spa, Belgium, Saturday, July 26, 2025. (AP)
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New Boss Hails ‘Near-Perfect Race’ From Rejuvenated Lawson 

Team RB driver Liam Lawson of New Zealand steers his car during qualification ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps racetrack in Spa, Belgium, Saturday, July 26, 2025. (AP)
Team RB driver Liam Lawson of New Zealand steers his car during qualification ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps racetrack in Spa, Belgium, Saturday, July 26, 2025. (AP)

Liam Lawson endured a miserable start to the Formula One season but eighth place at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday meant points for the third time in the last six races for the rejuvenated New Zealander.

Brutally dumped by Red Bull and relegated to the Racing Bulls team after only two races, Lawson failed to register on the drivers' championship standings for the first seven rounds of the season.

Sunday's race was delayed by 80 minutes due to wet weather but when it finally got underway, Lawson made the switch to dry tires at just the right time and eased away from Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto to take another four points.

Lawson, who had qualified ninth, was fully appreciative of the way the team's strategy worked out and is hungry for more points at Hungaroring next weekend.

"I really enjoyed today. Often in those conditions you just want to survive, so I'm very happy for the team and how everything came together," the 23-year-old said.

"It's always tricky when you cross over to a dry tire when it's damp, but the car was fast and in clean air we had great pace.

"We need to keep the momentum rolling forward and make sure we enter the summer break on a high."

In keeping with what has been a chaotic year for the two Red Bull-owned outfits on the grid, Lawson was working under his third team boss of the season at Spa-Francorchamps.

The sacking two weeks ago of Christian Horner, who had handed Lawson the Red Bull seat only to take it away, meant a promotion for Racing Bulls' team principal Laurent Mekies.

Racing director Alan Permane, who has stepped into the breach as team principal at the junior team, could not have been happier with the way Lawson performed.

"Liam had a near-perfect race, he managed his tires exceptionally well, both on the intermediates and on the dry tire," he said.

"He was strong and able to comfortably pull away from Bortoleto behind and was very happy with the car overall."