Verstappen Responds To Pit Exit Incident With Hamilton From FP2

Saturday, 25 November 2023 at 08:23

Updated at Saturday, 25 November 2023 at 12:22

Red Bull's Max Verstappen talked to the media about Free Practice Session Two for the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit.

Max Verstappen, who recently mentioned Abu Dhabi always brings up good memories for him, has a chance to prolong his record of 18 wins in a season to 19 at Yas Marina Circuit.

However, the Dutchman had a pretty tricky Free Practice session two as he struggled to get into grips with his car and almost collided at the pit exit. He told the media after the FP2:

"I didn't learn much today. The balance of the car was not good. We had a lot of understeer and the car often jumped away. I didn't expect to be so far behind."

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While it was only a Free Practice session where everybody ran different setups, tires, and fuel loads which influenced performance, the three times World Champion did not expect to be in third place.

"That's a question mark for us. We were still third, so that's not too bad, but in terms of balance, it still needs to be a lot better."

With one practice session remaining, there are still a lot of changes to be made to Verstappen's setup, and to see the real performance of his Red Bull, we have to wait for qualifying and the race.

Concerning the incident, Verstappen likes to take advantage of new rules that allow drivers to overtake slower cars at pit exit and wanted to do the same in Abu Dhabi.

The problem is that the pit exit at the Yas Marina circuit is a tunnel that crosses the track below the ground. While there is enough space for f1 cars, it was not made for overtaking.

As Verstappen tried to overtake Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes driver squeezed him to the wall, almost colliding. Whether Hamilton saw him or not isn't clear. Verstappen commented on the incident:

"They have to get out of the way. They're all driving slowly and I just wanted to get out there because we didn't have much time. They keep driving in the middle and when I try to pass them they cut me off."