"Disconnect in balance" caused Verstappen crash - Horner

Italian Grand Prix

"Disconnect in balance" caused Verstappen crash - Horner

Verstappen was lucky to escape with minor damage after practice incident

Ewan Gale

Friday 4 September 2020 13:02 Updated: 13:25

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner feels Max Verstappen was "lucky" to escape with only minimal damage from a crash in first practice for the Italian Grand Prix.

Verstappen spun after 35 minutes of FP1 at the fast Ascari chicane, hitting a barrier and losing his front wing which brought out the red flags.

Horner stated the Dutch driver struggled with a "disconnect in balance" during the 90-minute session at Monza which resulted in the incident.

Article continues under video

"I think there was a bit of damage on the bottom of the car that the mechanics will get into as well, but thankfully it was just the front wing," Horner told Sky Sports F1.

"I think he was [surprised]. I was just talking to him at the back of the garage. He has got a bit of a disconnect in balance as well at the moment. I am sure we can tune that out, hopefully for the next session.

"It is really high speed over there so we are lucky to get away with the lowish amount of damage that we did."

Verstappen managed to return to the pits to repair the car and finished the session fifth on the timesheet, nine-tenths of a second slower than pacesetting Valtteri Bottas in his Mercedes.

Before you go...

Verstappen red flags FP1, Bottas fronts Mercedes one-two, Vettel 19th

I no longer have the energy to run Williams now its not ours - Claire Williams

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

Max Verstappen was a total savage in blunt two-word response to F1 reporter at Chinese Grand Prix

9 minutes ago

F1 Sprint Qualifying Today: Chinese Grand Prix 2026 start times, schedule, TV channel and FREE live stream

52 minutes ago

Honda hit by historic $3.6bn disaster as Aston Martin F1 project in crisis

1 hour ago

F1 Practice Today: Chinese Grand Prix 2026 start times, schedule, TV channel and FREE live stream

2 hours ago

Flip Flops & Macarenas - Ferrari are no longer the clowns of F1

3 hours ago

Fernando Alonso opens up on 'hard mental place' as Aston Martin F1 nightmare continues