The sprint race leading up to the Miami GP provided plenty of spectacle, partly due to poor weather conditions. Perhaps the highlight was the incident between Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli. After a tyre change, the Dutchman re-entered the pit lane, colliding with the young Italian’s car. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner referred to it as a human error and offered apologies to Antonelli and Mercedes.
There was drama in the sprint! Max Verstappen thought it was safe to return to the pit lane exit after his pit stop, but in doing so, he collided with Antonelli’s car. The stewards ruled that there was an unsafe release. The Dutchman received a ten-second time penalty and finished – for the first time since 2016(!) – out of the points in a race, excluding retirements due to crashes or mechanical issues.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner offered his apologies to Antonelli and Mercedes after the sprint race. “The incident in the sprint race was really unfortunate,” he responded. “It was a human error. Max (Verstappen) could do little about it; he was just following the team’s orders. I think we owe Kimi (Antonelli) an apology,” Horner honestly admitted. “These things happen. As a team, we need to look at it and ask ourselves: ‘Okay, what can we do better next time?'”
Absolute Lack of Judgement
According to the Brit, the team – which was actually trying to perform an undercut – made a costly miscalculation. “We’re talking about a mistake of about a meter,” Horner downplayed the collision with Antonelli. “We saw an opportunity to apply an undercut and were determined to get the car back on track quickly. Unfortunately, we made a wrong assessment. It just goes to show that you never stop learning in this sport.”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff reacted much less leniently. After the sprint race, he criticized what he described as an ‘absolute lack of judgement’ at Red Bull. “If this had happened in the main race, it would have been a real disaster,” the Austrian stated. “I am amazed at the complete lack of insight. It wasn’t even close to a safe release. Someone must have really panicked.”
