Verstappen critical of pit stop choice: 'I can't see all that'

Max Verstappen would have liked his pit stop in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to have been handled differently. Speaking to GPblog and others, the Dutchman discusses the decision to make his pit stop before a safety car was deployed.

Verstappen's race was marked by a rare strategic error by Red Bull. The Dutchman was called in for his pit stop when the AlphaTauri of compatriot Nyck de Vries was stationary on the edge of the track. At that point, however, only the yellow flag was waved. A few moments later, the safety car was sent onto the track after Verstappen had already made his pit stop, meaning the Dutchman - unlike Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc - did not benefit from the situation and lost the race lead.

"I saw that there was a car stopped. I thought he maybe just locked up," Verstappen reflected. "In hindsight, I mean, I can't see that. But, yeah, it's something to review. Clearly you could see there was one wheel damaged and it looked like he was not gonna drive that anyway back to the pits, even if he would have reversed. So something to look at because of course, that then, did hurt my race after that."

Verstappen still consulting with team

Asked if he therefore blamed his team for the strategic miss, Verstappen added: "I mean, I could see the car stopping but I mean, you see it on the screen, you cannot look into detail if every wheel is connected to the car properly. I mean, of course, the team has a bit more overview to that. But like I said, you know, we'll look into that if there was anything we could have done different. But I also don't know when the exact call came to pit, right? So, yeah, it's a bit difficult to say at the moment."