A six-second delta glitch on Verstappen’s steering wheel caused confusion in Miami SQ. Red Bull admitted fault and faced stewards’ action.
Red Bull Racing has received a formal reprimand after a technical error caused Max Verstappen to drive too slowly during Sprint Qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix.
While much of the buzz was around Verstappen’s run-in with Lance Stroll in SQ1—Stroll called him “dangerous” over the radio, another issue emerged in SQ2 that led to an investigation by the race stewards.
Verstappen was called in for allegedly driving below the required minimum time during a lap, which is a violation of Formula 1’s sporting rules. According to Article 33.4, drivers must not drive “unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner that could be dangerous to others.”
Stewards found that Verstappen had gone six seconds over the minimum time between safety car lines on one lap. However, they also confirmed he met the timing requirement on all other laps.
Telemetry showed Verstappen maintained a steady pace throughout, with no other cars nearby. The issue? His car was displaying incorrect delta information. Red Bull explained that the steering wheel was showing a time target that was actually six seconds slower than it should have been.
Verstappen followed the on-screen instructions exactly—but the car’s display was wrong.
Red Bull noticed the error right after his first cooldown lap and immediately instructed Verstappen to drive six seconds faster than the delta on his wheel. Data backed this up, and the stewards confirmed Verstappen acted properly based on the information he had in the cockpit.
In the end, the stewards placed the blame squarely on Red Bull, not the driver. The team was given an official reprimand for the software error.
They added that under different circumstances, the penalty could have been more severe.
- Discover More>Why Break What Works? Wolff Hints at Russell Stay
- Follow us on >FACEBOOK and >TWITTERfor F1 update
Verstappen Misled by Faulty Dash, Red Bull Reprimanded Verstappen Misled by Faulty Dash, Red Bull Reprimanded