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.

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"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.

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