Red Bull Reveals Damage to Verstappen's Car After FP2 Incident

Max Verstappen caused damage to his Red Bull car after a wide spin in FP2 of the Australian Grand Prix.

Red Bull's Chief Engineer, Paul Monaghan, stated that the damage from Max Verstappen's FP2 incident in Australia was enough to keep the team busy.

Max Verstappen went off the track at the end of the FP2 session and bounced over the gravel trap at a high speed, causing debris from the track to be lifted as he drove.

His teammate, Isack Hadjar, enjoyed a solid first day with the main team, finishing fourth in FP1 and ninth in FP2.

When asked about the damage to Verstappen's car, Monaghan said, "I'd say it's enough to keep us busy. It can be fixed. It's not a major thing. It's a bit of a bump, so we'll fix it and move on."

Despite the incident involving Verstappen, Monaghan agreed that, overall, it was a positive day for the team, as they had improved the performance of their in-house Power Unit, supported by Ford.

"Fantastic," he said. "New engine, new car, new regulations, and both cars come out of the pit lane at the start of P1 and they're both competitive."

"Isack is starting to get it, he's quite straightforward, and it seems like he knows what he wants. Max is usually a enthusiastic and competitive guy, and his car is pretty balanced."

"We had a few minor issues in P2, so that did slow us down a bit, but I think our main goal for tomorrow is to figure out how to get a good lap out of this car in any situation, whether it's qualifying or racing, and how to learn to do it consistently and do it right."

In further explanation about the Power Unit reability, he said, "The value of repeat testing, especially with a new car and new regulations, is very clear. If we don't do it, we won't get the information."

"But this is a fantastic achievement – a new engine and it works right off the bat. Absolutely amazing."

Monaghan acknowledged that it's still too early to get a clear picture of the top teams' positions in the order after Friday's practice sessions at Albert Park.

"I wouldn't say that," he said. "If I told you how much fuel each car had, you might not know. Similarly, you wouldn't know how much fuel our car had, and you wouldn't know the engine performance levels of our competitors. Maybe they're using the right settings. Maybe they're using the right tire. There are a lot of things we can improve on for tomorrow. The question is, will that improvement be enough to bring us forward or will we be behind our tough competitors?"

In a return to the nightmare spot he had last weekend with Racing Bulls, where he had an accident during the opening laps, Hadjar expressed his happiness with the progress that has been made.

"It's good," he said to Crash.net. "In terms of consistency, every lap in FP2 was quite difficult in terms of settings and everything. But we'll check it out. It's not possible for everything to go smoothly on the first day."

He added, "This year, it feels like the training leading up to qualifying is less extensive. There are still a lot of things we don't know. I hope to have more laps to understand what's happening with the Power Unit."