Max Verstappen off leaves Red Bull repairing RB22 after Australian FP2

Red Bull will be “kept busy” by having to repair Max Verstappen’s RB22, following a dramatic off during second practice in Australia.

Verstappen damaged the underside of his Red Bull when he sailed off the road at Turn 10.

Paul Monaghan: Red Bull damage is ‘recoverable’

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Verstappen finished the first day of practice for the Australian Grand Prix in sixth place, having had a compromised end to second practice following his off-track excursion.

The Dutch driver had been on a flying lap when he ran wide on the exit of Turn 10, having appeared to be caught out by a moment of oversteer as he negotiated the high-speed right-hander.

Flying off the road into the grass and gravel, his car bounced hard and shed bits of the floor and underside, although Verstappen did very well to keep the car pointing in the right direction to resume the track and continue.

While he went on to complete another lap, it was clear the car had suffered some damage, and he withdrew to the pits for checks.

It had been a dramatic session for the Red Bull driver, having come to a halt in the pit lane at the start of the hour when his car appeared to switch off when the revs dropped.

Speaking after the session, Paul Monaghan, the team’s chief engineer, explained that there is not expected to be any lasting damage to Verstappen’s car as a consequence of his incident.

“I’ll say there’s enough to keep us busy! It’s recoverable,” he said at the conclusion of the day’s running.

“It’s nothing that drastic, but it’s a bit of a thump, so we’ll tidy it up and go again.”

Verstappen had managed only 13 laps in second practice, adding to the 27 he managed in the morning session as he claimed third behind the two Ferraris.

The four-time F1 World Champion said more work is needed to fettle the setup of his RB22 for the rest of the weekend.

“In FP1, we did get in a good number of laps, and in FP2 we found that we ran into a few issues,” he said.

“We are working on getting the setup right with the car and were struggling a bit with grip, and also went into the gravel.

“We didn’t have a full day of clean running, but pace-wise, we are where I expected us to be.

“There is still a lot of work to do, and we will analyse what worked and what we can improve on overnight, and that is the reality at the moment.”

More on the Australian Grand Prix

Franco Colapinto summoned by Australian GP stewards after Lewis Hamilton near-miss

Australian GP: Oscar Piastri set fastest time in FP2 as Russell, Verstappen faced drama

Paul Monaghan: ‘Wonderful’ to see RBPT reliability

The Australian Grand Prix weekend marks the first weekend for Red Bull Powertrains, the engine project launched and overseen by former Red Bull team boss and CEO Christian Horner.

With the project building up over the intervening five years, Horner exited the picture in the final months of preparation as Red Bull opted to part ways with the British executive, but the strength of the personnel secured to head up the project, such as technical director Ben Hodgkinson, has resulted in what appears to be a competitive power unit right from the off of the new regulation cycle.

With OEM manufacturers such as Honda and Audi also entering the picture this year, the RBPT engine is perhaps the pick of the newcomers, and Monaghan was beaming with pride as he spoke about the smoothness with which Red Bull is starting the new regulatory challenge.

“Fantastic,” he said.

“I mean, brand new engine – our own – a new car, new rules, and both cars went out in the pit lane and started FP1, and both were competitive, straight off.

“The car is reasonably well balanced; we had a couple of little issues in FP2, so that’s hindered us a little bit.

“But I think our main objective tomorrow [Saturday] is sort out how we get laps out of this car, whether it’s qualifying or the race situation, and how we learn how to repeatedly do that and know we’re going to get it right. That’s our biggest thing.”

Given the struggles Aston Martin is having, primarily due to Honda’s reliability issues, Monaghan said it’s been “wonderful” to have developed a reliable power unit that is enabling his team to learn about its new car without any extra headaches to consider.

“If we come to the practice session and don’t do any laps, you don’t learn anything,” he said.

“So the value of going round and round, especially with the new car, new rules, everything, is rather obvious.

“If we don’t run it, we don’t garner knowledge. But what a fantastic treatment. Brand-spanking new engine, and it just runs. It’s wonderful.”

But in terms of developing a clear picture of the competitive pecking order and where Red Bull features in that hierarchy, Monaghan admitted it’s too early to have gleaned a true understanding of what to expect.

“If I said to you how much fuel is in each car, you probably don’t know. Equally, you don’t know how much is in ours,” he said.

“I can’t tell you what level of engine performance has been deployed by our opposition, if it’s variable for them. Did they get their deployment perfectly distributed around the lap with the tyres in the best condition possible?

“There are many things that we can improve upon for tomorrow. It’s just whether that improvement is good enough to take us to the front, or whether we will line up behind some of our charming opposition!”

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