Red Bull has reflected on the ‘towel gate’ incident from the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix, suggesting Max Verstappen’s explanation for the loose item in his cockpit may have been a stretch.
The unusual incident, which saw a towel left in the footwell of the Dutchman’s car during FP2 in Budapest, drew attention for its potential safety risks. Although the stewards issued just a minor warning, Red Bull indicated that Verstappen’s defence may have exaggerated the risk.
The reigning World Champion drove off the racing line at Turn 3, took both hands off the wheel, and tossed the cloth out of the car.
“It was just a towel you normally wipe your face with when you come back in, so it was still in the car when I went out,” Verstappen explained to the stewards.
“Instead of it potentially flying in between my feet, which was the dangerous part, I drove off line and got rid of it in the safest way possible, so I think the stewards understand.”
The FIA stewards agreed, issuing only a reprimand to Red Bull.
The governing body acknowledged the towel had the potential to obstruct the footwell but distinguished it from a hard object, deeming the incident less severe.
However, Red Bull’s Senior Race Strategy Engineer, Steve Knowles, later commented on the incident, suggesting that Verstappen’s account may have stretched the truth.
“I was desperately going back to our records to find something similar,” he told The Inside Track podcast, which dubbed the incident ‘towel gate’. “And yeah, no luck.
“You think about what the sport and the stewards are trying to do with these penalties. First and foremost is to act as a deterrent for anything that you should not be doing going forward.
“And it is fair to say that if you ever send the car from the garage and anything loose in the cockpit, it’s potentially dangerous.
“And I guess it’s a bit of a leap to say that, ‘you know, the towel could have made its way down into the footwell and maybe obstructed the pedal or something’. But in the extreme, it could have been dangerous.”
Red Bull on the lessons learnt from Verstappen’s FP2 incident
Knowles reflected that, while Verstappen’s story may have been a stretch, the stewards’ warning served as a clear reminder to all teams to be vigilant.
“I think it’s probably fair for them to issue that lenient but still minor warning, so that it’s a reminder for everybody else that you need to be careful not to do that,” he continued.
“And the teams have a responsibility to make sure that the cockpits are free of anything, any floating items.”
The stewards, in their official verdict, laid out the events and rationale for the warning: “The driver explained that while in the garage, the face towel had slipped from his lap to the side of the seat and the team was unaware that it remained in the cockpit.
“When the driver realised it was there, he moved to the far right of the track and attempted to throw it as far away from the car and the track as possible.
“The stewards determine that the towel had the potential to have become lodged in the footwell and to interfere with the driver’s ability to fully control the car and that therefore the car was released in an unsafe condition.
“The stewards consider this case to be distinguishable from a case where a hard (and therefore potentially dangerous) object is left in the cockpit and to be less severe than such a case. Hence a warning to the team is imposed.”
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