Verstappen red flags practice on Dutch return

Ian Parkes
Friday 2 September 2022 11:57

Max Verstappen's opening practice session for his home race in the Netherlands lasted just 10 minutes after his Red Bull ground to a halt on track with a gearbox issue.

Roars reverberated around the Zandvoort circuit when Verstappen took to a track where won in commanding fashion a year ago on F1's return after a long absence.

The reigning champion had run for seven laps, and was top of the timesheet with a lap of one minute 14.714s, when his RB18 suddenly slowed and stopped.

Verstappen reported a gearbox fault, leading to the session being red flagged and halted for nine minutes before his car was retrieved and returned to the garage.

Earlier today, a seal was broken on the gearbox of Verstappen's car in order to change the main-shaft locking insert. That was done without penalty.

It is unknown at this stage whether that had any impact on the gearbox failure.