Tyre blow out retires Max in Imola: 'It's a shame'

Published on 01 November 2020 by Mike Motilall

Max Verstappen retired from the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix because of a tyre blow out. The Dutchman was heading to a second place finish after he overtook Valtteri Bottas earlier on in the race. A rightrear wheel puncture put a spoke in his wheel with just twelve laps to go. The Dutchman spun out into the gravel trap at full speed and was unable to get out. As a consequence this is now his fourth retirement from a race this season. Lewis Hamilton took the victory home, followed by Mercedes-team mate Valtteri Bottas and Renault driving Daniel Ricciardo, who secured his second podium finish this season.

After the race a heavily disappointed Max had the following to say: “It’s a shame, because it could have been a good race. We dropped out three times in Italy this year so that’s not great.”

Regarding the start of the race, Verstappen says: “The start was good and I got Lewis. Then I was trying to stay with Bottas, even though he had more pace. We tried to do an undercut by pitting a lap earlier, but that didn’t work. After my pit stop I was stuck behind of Valtteri because he had damage to his floor. We were losing a lot of lap time and I couldn’t get closer because on this track it is so hard to pass. Then Lewis jumped us.”

After Max had been mounting the pressure on Bottas lap after lap, the Finn outbraked himself at Rivazza. This was the chance Max needed to overtake Bottas: “That was my only chance”, says Verstappen regarding his overtake maneuver. “He made some mistakes at that point already. This one was a bigger one than the others and then we got past. The pace was good, the car was feeling quite good. And suddenly on the straight I lost the car because there was a tyre blow out. I don’t exactly know what happened but when I quickly looked at the car there was nothing broken.”

Max continues: “It’s a big shame to not be second today.  Up to that point I was having a fun race. I was really pushing and trying to stay with Mercedes. There was actually no problem and normally you would finish in second, but it’s a shame.”

On the Imola circuit, where for the first time since 2006 a Grand Prix is held again, the weather is dry and sunny for the 63-lap lasting race. Max gets well off the line starting from third. In Bottas’ slipstream, Verstappen overtakes Hamilton for second in the run up to Turn two. Lance Stroll collides with Esteban Ocon’s Renault at Turn three and loses a part of his front wing, while Sebastian Vettel runs into Kevin Magnussen at Tosa. The Dane ends up back-to-front in his Haas but is able to continue on.

Max is able to keep up the pace with race leader Bottas during the opening laps of the race, while Hamilton in turn is running behind of Verstappen. On lap nine, Pierre Gasly is told on the radio by his team to park his Alpha Tauri in the pits because of a technical issue. The Frenchman who was running fifth at that moment is the first drop out in the race.

On lap nineteen, Max comes in for his mandatory pit stop. The medium compound is swapped for a set of the hards in a flawless 2.2-second pit stop. Max rejoins in third. Bottas does his stop one lap later and the Finn heads back out on track ahead of Verstappen while Hamilton decides to continue on driving.

Esteban Ocon parks his Renault on lap 30 trackside with a technical issue. This triggers a Virtual Safety Car which gives Hamilton the perfect opportunity to do his pit stop. The Briton does his stop and rejoins well ahead of Bottas and Verstappen.

The Dutchman keeps mounting the pressure on Bottas when the Mercedes-driver cracks on lap 42 and outbrakes himself at Rivazza. Max seizes the opportunity and with the aid of his DRS, he overtakes Bottas on the straight at the start-finish line. This puts him now in second.

Kevin Magnussen is forced to park his Haas in the pits with a technical problem on lap 49 while Max Verstappen gets a tyre blow out on lap 51. Unable to do anything, he spins out in the gravel trap at Turn five. The Dutchman is unable to continue on and needs to retire. The safety car is immediately deployed giving the drivers a chance to make a pit stop. George Russell crashes into the wall because of cold tyres under safety car condition, and becomes the next one to retire from the race.

When the safety car has ended, there are only 5 laps remaining with Hamilton in the lead, followed by Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo. Alexander Albon spins at Turn six while fighting with Sergio Perez and drops back to last. Daniil Kvyat manages to work his way to the front all the way to fourth on the soft compound tyres. He is however unable to overtake Ricciardo ahead of him. Hamilton wins the race with Mercedes-team mate Bottas in second. Once again Mercedes wins the Constructors’ championship by a tremendous margin, the seventh title in a row for the team. Daniel Ricciardo finishes third fastest and takes his second podium in three races. Daniil Kvyat crosses the line in fourth leaving Ferrari running Charles Leclerc behind him in fifth. Perez is sixth, while McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris and the two Alfa Romeo drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and homeboy Antonio Giovinazzi, round out the top ten.

Results Grand Prix Emilia-romagna: