Max Verstappen goes off on ‘annoying’ drain cover drama during Bahrain pre-season test

The drainage cover coming off during test runs has delayed the test session multiple times.

Max Verstappen goes off on ‘annoying’ drain cover drama during Bahrain pre-season test

Red Bull RB 20 (In circle), Max Verstappen and Gianpiero Lambiase (Via IMAGO)

Max Verstappen got annoyed during the Bahrain pre-season test during the drain cover drama. In recent years, drains have been a recurring issue for Formula One, but usually on street circuits rather than permanent racetracks like Bahrain.

Two cars ran over the loose cover on Thursday and the incident left debris all over the track. This resulted in delays during the already minimal test times the teams get during pre-season. Yesterday after just 30 minutes of the morning session, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez drove over a curb, sending the cover flying up and necessitating repairs and an area inspection.

YouTube video

Verstappen highlighted how much the delay caused by the drain cover issue annoys him. He pointed out that such issues should’ve been sorted before the test session begins as now during the budget cap era every second that is lost during test runs is more costly than ever.

FS Video
We know that these problems can occur with these cars. We also drive in areas of the track where other cars cannot. We should have checked that better beforehand. And it should be a warning for other track we drive on. In times of budget caps, it's annoying when you lose time on the track.
Max Verstappen said.

The second day of F1 testing is halted by a loose drain cover

Friday’s pre-season testing for Formula One was delayed for a second day in a row at Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit due to a loose drain cover. Following Turn 11 repairs, track activity resumed. The customary lunch break was abandoned, and the session was set to last until 7 p.m. local time (1600 GMT).

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton's joint Instagram post
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton (Credits: @lewishamilton/Instagram)

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari ran over the loose cover on Thursday, stopping testing and necessitating the replacement of the latter’s car’s floor. With Monegasque having the fastest lap on the day of the pre-testing season.

This is the first loose drain season problem in the 2024 F1 season problem. Although Ferrari was the fastest on the second day of practice. Everyone is excited for the third pre-season test. Still, now no one has beaten the Max Verstappen fastest lap record which was bought on day 1 practice.

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