Complex Friday
The Canadian Grand Prix weekend got off to a rocky start straight away Max Verstappen, and not only due to the bad weather conditions that put all the drivers involved in the first two Free Practice sessions in difficulty. In fact, to complicate the reigning world champion’s day, there was also a breakdown which forced the Dutchman to end FP2 early.
ERS ko
Fifth in FP1, but with few laps completed due to the strong conditions rain which also pushed the stewards into a long interruption, the #1 returned to the pits less than half an hour after the start of the following FP2. Verstappen definitively ended his activity on the track after reporting via radio to his track engineer, Giampiero Lambiase, that he had smelled “smoke”, a fact which aroused the suspicion of the Red Bull men.
After the first interventions implemented on the RB20, the team revealed that a ERS failure (Energy Recovery System), although the mechanics are still working to understand the precise reasons for this technical knockout. The fact remains that Verstappen’s Friday went against all the Dutchman’s wishes: “Unfortunately FP1 was very conditioned by weather conditions and even FP2 didn’t allow us to do many laps – has explained – there was a suspected electrical problem, so the team told me to pit. Now they are investigating to understand what the problem is and I am sure we will get to the bottom of it. It’s not idealbecause I would have liked to do a few more laps and It’s not how I wanted to end the session. But now we just need to better understand what happened and the implications it will have for this weekend.”
