Verstappen kicks out at tyre after failure costs Baku victory

Max Verstappen kicked the rear-left tyre of his Red Bull after a high-speed failure cost him victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Verstappen, who had led most of the race and looked set for a comfortable victory ahead of Lewis Hamilton, suffered a tyre blowout that pitched him into the barriers at top speed down the 2.2-kilometre start-finish straight.

The Dutchman walked despondently away from the scene of the accident knowing the DNF could cost him heavily in the championship having led the standings for the first time in his career before the race.

The incident was the second tyre failure of the race, with Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin suffering a blowout on the same tyre just a few hundred metres earlier on the straight.

Red Bull immediately radioed the FIA’s race director Michael Masi, stating: “We got zero warning” and suggesting the red flag on safety grounds, which was a decision subsequently taken.

The race was red-flagged with Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez sitting in the lead ahead of Lewis Hamilton and just two laps left before the chequered flag, setting up a two-lap shoot-out to the finish.

Hamilton was quick to check how his world championship rival was after the incident and asked over the radio “is he ok?”, a fact that was confirmed by his team.

Later on the pit wall, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was heard explaining the issue to Helmut Marko and said: “It’s a tyre failure. They’re at the end of their life. It’s exactly the same tyre that failed on Stroll, so it’s a tyre issue.”

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