Red Bull’s pitcrew was once a byword for infallibility but that reputation has slipped in recent races – even if the issues in Bahrain were cause by an electrical short in the gantry rather than human error.
But ‘finger trouble’ was definitely the cause of what could have been a much more serious incident in the Miami F1 sprint had circumstances panned out differently. Only the quick reactions of Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen prevented potential injuries.
Antonelli had started on pole position in wet conditions but dropped to fourth place at Turn 1 on the opening lap, behind new race leader Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, and Verstappen. At the end of lap 13 the drying conditions prompted both Verstappen and Antonelli to swap from intermediate to slick tyres.
Verstappen was then given the signal to leave his pit ‘box’ just as Antonelli was passing and angling into the Mercedes pit, which was just ahead of Red Bull’s.
Both drivers slowed and steered away from each other, so Antonelli’s Mercedes gave the Red Bull a glancing blow which removed its front-left wing endplate.
Unable to go into his ‘box’, Antonelli had to drive out of the pits and complete another lap before returning.
“If it was the main race, that would be seriously annoying,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1 after the race.
Toto Wolff, Mercedes
Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images
“But I’m surprised about about the total lack of judgement there because it wasn’t even close to releasing without any security concerns. So somebody panicked there.”
Antonelli finished 10th while Verstappen was given a 10-second penalty which left him 17th in the final result.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner confirmed the incident was “human error”.
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