Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has detailed that Oscar Piastri had a role in the events that led to Max Verstappen‘s race collapsing in Formula 1‘s Spanish Grand Prix.
Verstappen was poised to come home third behind the McLarens in Barcelona until a Safety Car with 11 laps to go triggered chaos that saw him end up down in 10th.
Red Bull’s choice to commit to an additional pit stop earlier in proceedings ensured Verstappen had no new Soft tyres available to him compared to those around him.
However, Red Bull still opted to instruct Verstappen to enter the pits to switch him to the Hard compound, a decision that would prove to be detrimental on the restart.
The Dutchman was exposed as soon as the race resumed on Lap 61 as a wide moment coming onto the main straight allowed Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari to surge past.
That opened the door for George Russell to have a crack into Turn 1 in a squabble that culminated in a collision at Turn 5 that landed Verstappen a 10-second penalty.
“It came at the worst time for us,” Marko acknowledged to ServusTV regarding the Safety Car’s deployment.
“At that point, we only had one set of new, Hard compound tyres left, and one set of Softs with about seven laps under our belt.
“The mistake – and it was a mistake – was choosing the Hard compound. The alternative would have been to stay out.”
Marko corroborated Red Bull boss Christian Horner’s account that the team believed that new Hards would deal with the initial warm-up phase better than used Softs.
“The explanation was simply: it was the only new set left,” he highlighted.
“But the reasoning behind it was wrong: it was assumed that a new tyre is automatically better than a used one.”
Piastri role in Verstappen restart struggles
Marko has documented how eventual race winner Piastri backing up the pack to an extreme extent exacerbated Verstappen’s struggle for grip once racing continued.
“In reality the Safety Car period lasted a long time and then Piastri, who is a very astute driver, drove very slowly on the Safety Car,” he revealed.
“And the slower the pace, the more the tyre temperature dropped.
“The Hard one was simply too slow and didn’t warm up. You could see that Max was about to lose the car at the entrance to Turn 7.”
Verstappen denied podium by Red Bull call
The Austrian suspects Verstappen would have taken the podium he had been set to claim had Red Bull inherited the lead by not pitting when the Safety Car came out.
“The two McLarens would have passed us, but we could have kept Leclerc behind,” he predicted. “Or even better, we could have used the seven-lap old Soft.
“But the assumption was that the new tyre would have peaked, meaning one or two laps of significantly better performance.”
READ MORE – How Red Bull caused McLaren brief concern in F1 Spanish GP
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