Red Bull fixed Verstappen’s F1 car damage ‘with 25s to go’

Red Bull’s mechanics fixed Max Verstappen’s damaged Formula 1 car with just “25 seconds to go” on the Hungarian Grand Prix grid, according to team boss Christian Horner.

Heavy rain on Sunday morning left the Hungaroring track saturated, with drivers completing their reconnaissance laps on intermediate compound tyres.

Verstappen lost the rear of his RB16 at Turn 12 and slid sideways into the barriers. The impact resulted in heavy damage to his car, breaking the front wing and damaging the front-suspension elements.

The Dutchman was able to recover to the grid where his Red Bull mechanics frantically worked on the damage. A replacement front wing was successfully fitted but further repairs could not be completed in time for the race.

Verstappen took the start and went on to claim a brilliant second place finish behind Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who romped to victory to take the lead of the championship for the first time this year.

“Max redeemed himself,” Horner told Sky Sports.

“On the inters on the lap to the grid he did his best to go off, I think he went off three times, and then almost terminally.

“We made a late call after he managed to reverse it out to go to the grid. He got himself well out of shape and it was just so slippy, but he managed to keep it running, reversed it out.

“He was going to come into the pits because he thought it was all over, but we could see from the TV that it was mainly the push rod and the track rod, so we drove it to the grid.

“The mechanics on that car, all the boys have done an amazing job today, turning that around in 20 minutes - it’s something that would usually take an hour and a half.

“He owes that result to them today. He was very lucky but I think we completed with 25 seconds to go, that’s when the wheel went on.

“The sweat was dripping off the guys, their work was amazing.”

Verstappen praised the work of his mechanics and devoted his podium finish to his crew.

"It was not how I wanted it in the beginning of course ending up in the barriers with the laps to the grid!

"But the mechanics did an amazing job to fix the car, I don’t know how they did it, but incredible, so to pay them back with a second place, very pleased with that. First lap was very crucial and from there on we had the right calls and we had good pace, we kept on doing our thing, to be able to split the Mercedes is good for us."