Credits: IMAGO / Motorsport Images

Max Verstappen and Red Bull had a weekend to forget in Australia. The Dutchman was chasing his 10th win in a row for the second time in less than a year. Unfortunately, when smoke and fire started pouring out of his car, Red Bull asked him to retire. Now, team principal Christian Horner explains what caused this fire, and why Verstappen had to retire.

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Horner told Motorsport Italia, “There was a problem: the caliper blocked the disc from the start of the race and, therefore, heat accumulated. Already on the second lap, it was as if Max had a handbrake on at turn three which allowed Carlos to pass him and then we started to see smoke and, therefore, fire.”

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Verstappen started the race in his usual dominant fashion. He kept Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and McLaren’s Lando Norris at bay after having a perfect launch and led the pack heading into turn 1. Till lap two, everything was fine when suddenly, Verstappen saw Sainz in his mirrors.

The Spanish driver roared past him and this was when things began to change for the 26-year-old. He looked to be in trouble and within moments, smoke was coming out of the back of his RB20. Soon after, the right rear end of Verstappen’s car caught fire and the three-time world champion was asked to stop racing.

He eventually crawled back to the pits to retire his car. With this, Max Verstappen and Red Bull lost out on a huge chunk of points. While it is still early days, it brings Ferrari just 4 points behind them in the championship standings.

Ferrari capitalizing on Red Bull nightmare

While Max Verstappen retired for the first time in 44 races, Ferrari basked in glory. The Prancing Horse had their first 1-2 finish since Bahrain 2022, and this boosted their confidence tremendously, heading into the Japanese GP.

Just two weeks ago, Sainz underwent an appendicitis surgery. Still, he drove a stellar race and grabbed his third F1 race win, ahead of Charles Leclerc, who finished P2. This helped the Italian team grab a mammoth 44 points in a single weekend and close the gap to Red Bull in the Constructors’ standings.

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In the Driver’s Championship, Max Verstappen still leads the pack with 51 points, but Leclerc is now close in P2 with 47. Sainz is P4 with 40 points, six behind Sergio Perez in third, but it is pertinent to note that the Madrid-born driver missed out on the entirety of the Saudi Arabian GP because of his surgery.

The RB20 remains the car to beat, and Verstappen remains the favorite to win the subsequent races. Whether Red Bull’s reliability issues are one-off, or will be a regular occurrence, could define the flow of the rest of the season.

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseuer said (as per Formu1a.uno) that he won’t be getting carried away by the 1-2 finish as the team needs more upgrades to reach Red Bull’s level. Therefore, the upcoming race in Suzuka might prove how much of an improvement Ferrari has actually made.