Max Verstappen has been electrifying for the past few years, demolishing teammates for fun and pestering the Mercedes in what has been an inferior Red Bull car. But on Sunday he committed a capital sin: hitting his car on the way to the grill.
It’s a pretty rare mistake, and it only happens occasionally in very difficult conditions, like we had at the start on Sunday in Hungary. The last man to do so was Romain Grosjean in Brazil 2016, in immensely humid weather and, by coincidence, from seventh on the grid, the same starting place as Verstappen.
Grosjean did not start the race that day and when the extent of the damage to Verstappen’s car became apparent, it seemed that he too would have to be a spectator in a race that would have brought him down to the ground.
READ MORE: The Winners and Losers of the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix
Crashing on the grid recognition lap seems like a ridiculous mistake, and frankly it is, but it’s actually easier than people imagine, particularly in treacherous conditions.
Hungarian GP: Verstappen crashes before the race
Those two or three laps are the only chance for drivers to feel the grip in those conditions before the lights go out and they are running at full speed with cars around them. It’s natural for riders to get close to the limit in these circumstances because you don’t want to be oblivious to the level of grip when the race begins.
Verstappen was clearly pressing harder than most, and it was obvious by looking at his lap that it was on the jagged edge even before hitting the wall, taking creepy turns on many previous turns.
When you drive the Hungaroring, the wall feels quite far away at Turn 12, and I’ve rarely seen anyone hit it. This presumably led Verstappen to believe that it was a good place to exceed braking limits, feeling that there was a large amount of runoff if he cooked it too much. But he overcooked it, and when he panicked with the front wheels locked, the rear parts also got ripped off and he was sent to the barriers.
As he approached the grill, it seemed clear that he would not compete. Changing suspension components takes much longer than the time Red Bull had to make the repairs, around 25 minutes.
READ MORE: Verstappen was 25 seconds away from starting the race, Horner reveals
Mercedes was so certain that the car couldn’t be repaired that they should have told Lewis Hamilton that Verstappen wouldn’t start before getting on it. Which sparked the humorous “I thought you said Verstappen is out.” comment on the radio when they told him earlier in the race that the car behind was the Red Bull man.
This shows what incredibly incredible work the Red Bull mechanics did, in a cauldron of pressure: on the grid, with the clock running, the cameras and the world watching. Somehow, remarkably, they repaired the car and put the left front wheel on within 30 seconds before the deadline.
WATCH FULL: Red Bull’s amazing repair job on Verstappen’s car on the grid in Hungary
For Max at this time, it was critical for him to keep his head clear. I have been in that position before, when my car has had network problems and does not know if it will start or not. It is a difficult time to think about the start of the race. It was even worse for Verstappen because it was his mistake that put his career in jeopardy.
But ultimately, there is nothing the driver can do at the time. Formula 1 is a team sport and this is where mechanics, some of the most skilled in the world, can make a living.
Crash to P2: Max Verstappen’s incredible Hungarian GP recovery
Verstappen took care of his affairs on the grid in the usual way, and did a great job of removing the fury around his place on the grid and focusing on the race ahead, as highlighted by his brilliant start.
On the lap of training, he would have been eager and perhaps did some extra knitting from the start to make sure the car felt normal and responded to his input correctly.
But when the lights went out, he returned to Max Verstappen normal mode and lowered his head and elbows, making a fantastic start and optimizing wet conditions as he always seems, to take second place behind Hamilton.
READ MORE: “The second feels like a victory,” says Verstappen as he recovers from the crash before the podium race.
Crossing the finish line right there, despite the pressure of Valtteri Bottas’ quick approach at the end, sealed a surprising result for Red Bull, which rewarded the mechanics for their frantic work on the grid.
Finishing second of the seventh on the grid seemed pretty unlikely on Sunday morning for a team that had struggled to keep up the pace all weekend, let alone one that had to deal with a folded car parked on its grid minutes before the race.
