The Dutchman confirmed his future plans this week

MAX VERSTAPPEN threw the towel OUT during the second practice session in Budapest.

The four-time world champion found what looked like a towel that had been left in the cock-pit before hurling it out of his Red Bull while driving in FP2.


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Max Verstappen threw a towel out of his car during practice in Hungary


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Red Bull could now face a fine
The stewards said they would investigate the bizarre incident once the session had finished with Red Bull facing a potential fine.

This isn’t the first time something like this has happened with Lando Norris sent out with a spanner and a torch inside his car during opening practice at the Miami Grand Prix in May.

He said on the team radio at the time: “You have left so many tools in the cockpit. Everything is just falling apart.”

The stewards investigated the incident, but let McLaren off with a slap on the wrist instead of fining them for an unsafe release.

Verstappen struggled in both practice sessions today at the Hungaroring on the outskirts of Budapest.

It comes after he put the rumours to bed once for all about his future and confirmed he is STAYING at Red Bull on Thursday.

The four-time world champion, whose deal runs until 2028, had previously held talks with Mercedes over a potential move, with Red Bull struggling again this season.

Merc boss Toto Wolff confirmed the talks at the Austrian Grand Prix in June, with Verstappen open to considering his future options.

The Dutchman finished fourth in the Belgian Grand Prix last time out, meaning he can no longer trigger a release clause that relied on him being outside of the top three going into the summer break.

Ahead of the Budapest Grand Prix, he said: “I mean, it’s quite interesting to follow all that and the amount of nice stories that came out of it.

“But yeah, for me, I’ve never really said anything about it because I was just focused on talking to the team about how we can improve our performance, future ideas for next year as well.

“I think it’s time to basically stop all the rumors and for me, it’s always been quite clear that I was staying anyway.

“That was also the general feeling in the team anyway, because we were always in discussions about what we could do with the car.

“I think when you’re not interested in staying, then you also stop talking about these kinds of things. And I never did.”

Christian Horner was ruthlessly sacked by Red Bull two weeks ago, but Verstappen made it clear in Spa that the 51-year-old’s exit did not influence his future plans.


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Max Verstappen confirmed this week that he will stay at Red BullCredit: Getty