Sky Sports F1 pundit Bernie Collins has shared one thing that surprised her about Max Verstappen’s retirement at the Australian Grand Prix.
Verstappen failed to finish for the first time since a mechanical DNF at the same event in 2022.
And Collins, who was speaking on the Sky F1 podcast, has spotted something notable in the team radio communication before his exit.
Verstappen started the race on pole position ahead of Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz.
However, an issue with his right-rear brake got progressively worse in the early stages of the Grand Prix.
It caused him to slide on the second lap, opening the door for Sainz to get past with the aid of DRS.
And a couple of laps later, more and more smoke began to billow from the duct as the Dutchman dropped down the order.
Verstappen, who was aiming for a 10th consecutive race victory to match his own record, had finished in the points for 43 consecutive events.
He was only five short of matching the record set by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton between 2018 and 2020.
More importantly, Charles Leclerc has cut his lead at the top of the championship to just four points heading to the Japanese Grand Prix next month.
Bernie Collins says Red Bull didn’t inform Max Verstappen of problem
Collins pored over the team radio following Verstappen’s retirement, and says the team didn’t appear to notice the issue.
That’s despite the fact that there should have been ‘loads of indications’ that there was a problem.
In the end, it Verstappen himself who imparted the news, leaving Red Bull with plenty to investigate before they head to Suzuka.
Collins said: “What surprises me is that there was no action in advance of the temperatures getting that hot. Maybe the temperature sensor’s not reading, we don’t know what’s going on.
“But even on comms, there’s no discussion saying ‘we can see your rear right’s getting hot’, there’s no discussion even about the tyre pressures going high.
“There’d be loads of indications that that rear right was too hot, and the first indication that we at least see of it is Max reporting it on the radio.
“There’s a lot to go through there to check, because it would amaze me if they couldn’t have seen it in temperatures or pressure in advance and taken some sort of action.”
Are Red Bull now vulnerable to Ferrari?
The big question following the race at Albert Park is whether Ferrari would have won the race even if Verstappen had still been able to compete.
The reigning world champion apparently told Red Bull director Helmut Marko that he could have kept up with Sainz had his issue not worsened.
Marko is confident that the 26-year-old will respond with a dominant victory in Japan.
However, teammate Sergio Perez failed to make much of an impression in the sister car.
Perez started and finished fifth, and McLaren driver Oscar Piastri was ‘surprised’ that he wasn’t quicker.
A visor tear-off became lodged in the floor of his RB20 and compromised his aerodynamic performance.
BBC F1’s Harry Benjamin said after the race that his underwhelming result confirmed that he ‘isn’t the right man to be in that number two seat at Red Bull’.
Perez retired from last year’s Japanese GP with damage, while Verstappen won by just under 20 seconds.
The post ‘It would amaze me’: Bernie Collins surprised by one thing from Red Bull team radio before Max Verstappen DNF appeared first on F1 Oversteer.