FORMULA ONE stewards issued a reprimand to Red Bull on Friday following an unusual incident involving Max Verstappen discarding a face towel from his car during practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The four-time world champion was called to explain the incident after the second session at the Hungaroring, with stewards reviewing video evidence.
“Shortly after Car 1 was released from its garage, the driver of Car 1 (Verstappen) was observed to have thrown a towel out of the cockpit,“ the stewards stated. Verstappen clarified that the towel had slipped from his lap to the side of the seat while in the garage, and the team was unaware it remained inside.
“When the driver realised it was there, he moved to the far right of the track and attempted to throw it as far away from the car and the track as possible,“ the statement continued. Despite his efforts, the towel landed on the asphalt and remained there until the session concluded.
Stewards acknowledged that leaving the towel inside the cockpit posed a greater risk, as it could have obstructed the footwell and hindered Verstappen’s control of the car. They ruled that Red Bull had released the car in an unsafe condition, though the violation was deemed less severe than if a hard object had been left inside. - Reuters
