Mika Hakkinen, the two-time F1 World Champion and former McLaren driver, says he was “very surprised” that Max Verstappen did not challenge Red Bull’s decision to fit hard tyres at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen kept the dominant McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris honest throughout last week’s Spanish GP, turning to a three-stop strategy to keep himself in contention.

Mika Hakkinen ‘surprised’ by Max Verstappen’s reaction to Red Bull’s tyre choice

However, the Red Bull driver’s race began to fall apart when the Safety Car was called for Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s abandoned Mercedes.

As revealed by PlanetF1.com, Verstappen called for “fresh tyres” to be fitted for the restart, claiming over team radio that new rubber would “make a difference” in his battle with Piastri and Norris.

Yet the only fresh tyres Verstappen had left at that stage of the race were hards, a compound all teams had struggled to switch on across the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.

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Verstappen expressed astonishment when he realised the team had fitted him with hards for the six-lap sprint to the finish, with the reigning four-time World Champion the only driver to use the compound in the 66-lap race.

Verstappen went on to have a chaotic end to his race, culminating in his heated clash with George Russell at Turn 5 where he appeared to deliberately collide with the Mercedes driver.

The Red Bull driver was hit with a 10-second penalty moments after the chequered flag, dropping him from fifth to 10th in the final classification.

Verstappen was also given three penalty points for the incident with Russell, putting him on the brink of a one-race ban.

Appearing on the Drive to Wynn podcast, Hakkinen admitted to being shocked that Verstappen was seemingly not aware that hards were the only fresh set of tyres he had left in his allocation when the Safety Car was called.

He said: “I was very surprised when Max asked why the hard tyres were fitted.

“Normally a driver knows exactly what tyres he has left and what condition they are in when he turns into the pits in the race.

“When I saw that they had fitted him with the hard tyres, I thought to myself that it wouldn’t end well and that he would struggle because he wouldn’t be able to get the tyres up to temperature.

“It was clear that he wouldn’t find any grip and would be overtaken.”

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Having initially showed little remorse for his clash with Russell, Verstappen later admitted that the move “was not right and shouldn’t have happened.”

Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, also revealed that Verstappen apologised to the team during the post-race debrief in Barcelona.

In a post on social media, Horner went on to defend Red Bull’s choice of hard tyres for the final stint despite suggestions that Verstappen should have gambled by staying out on eight-lap-old softs.

Horner said: “Spain closes out the triple header and we leave Barcelona frustrated that we didn’t take more from the race.

“As a team we attacked on the three stop which was the better strategy and it was only the safety car which had us over.

“We would never have been as close to Lando [Norris] if it wasn’t for the three stopper.

“The safety car came out at the worst possible time for our strategy, we had the choice to stay out on older tyres or take the gamble with a new set of hard tyres.

“Hindsight is always 20/20, but we made the best decision at the time with the information we had.

“The result that followed was frustrating as it was looking to be an easy podium for Max and good Championship points.”

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