MONTE CARLO, Monaco — Red Bull faces a race against time to repair Max Verstappen’s car for qualifying at the Monaco Grand prix after he hit the barriers at the Swimming Pool chicane while attempting to set a new lap record in final practice.
Verstappen walked away from the accident unharmed, but teammate Daniel Ricciardo further dented the Dutchman’s pride by beating him to the fastest time of the session by 0.001s. Verstappen had held the quickest time for much of the session but as he tried to extend his lead further on a fresh set of hyper-soft tyres he committed one of the cardinal sins of Monaco by damaging his car just two hours before the all-important qualifying session.
Verstappen made the mistake in the second part of the Swimming Pool chicane, but appeared to be put off his stride in the first part when he closed in on Carlos Sainz’s Renault at an alarming rate. The Renault just got out of Verstappen’s way in time but moments later the Red Bull driver had to pick his turn in point for the second part of the chicane and clipped the barrier on the inside. That broke his front right suspension and launched the car over the large kerb on the second part of the chicane before burying the front end in the barriers. The front wing and front right suspension were decimated but the more crucial area of importance will be the rear after the right rear suspension, which connects to the gearbox, also slapped against the barrier.
More to follow…
http://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/23610369/daniel-ricciardo-quickest-max-verstappen-crashes-final-practice
