Max Verstappen wants Red Bull to conduct a full enquiry into the suspension failure which has left him down in 13th on the grid for Sunday’s United States GP.
The Dutchman ran over a sausage kerb on the exit of the Turn 15 hairpin under acceleration and the increased energy through the traction zone was seemingly enough to cause what is normally one of the strongest parts on a Formula 1 car to simply snap.
“I touched the outside kerb and it failed the suspension and took the driveshaft out,” Verstappen confirmed. “Which is a bit weird because before we were always taking that kerb because it opens the corner a little bit more to make it faster.
“Those kerbs have been there for like two years now so it is a bit weird to understand. Also, everybody else in qualifying took those orange kerbs and only on our car it failed. We’ll have a look into it.”
Coming midway through Q1 it meant he was unable to take part in Q2 having already set a fast enough time to get out of the bottom five while the engine penalties for the Toro Rosso’s do move him up a few positions.
The question may be if he too will need a new gearbox with the driveshaft failing and that would result in a five-place grid drop back to 18th.