Max Verstappen’s F1 Turkish GP hampered by front wing adjustment error

Max Verstappen’s performance in the Turkish Grand Prix was hampered by a front wing adjustment mistake made by Red Bull which caused an aerodynamic imbalance on his Formula 1 car.

Verstappen looked to have the pace to challenge for victory in the early stages of Sunday’s race at a treacherously wet Istanbul Park, but he dropped a handful of positions when he spun while trying to pass Sergio Perez’s Racing Point.

The Dutchman, who labelled his race as “super frustrating”, eventually battled back to take sixth place ahead of Red Bull teammate Alex Albon despite suffering a second spin later on. It ended his remarkable streak of podium finishes in every race he has finished this season.

Verstappen later revealed that an error from Red Bull left his front wing seven degrees of turn short, which disturbed his car's aero balance and handling. Usually teams would make an adjustment of a single degree upwards or downwards.

"Everything went wrong basically," Verstappen told Dutch newspaper de Telegraaf, “It turned out that the adjustment of my front wing was completely wrong.

"On one side we were seven degrees short of what should have been our front wing set-up. That is quite a lot really.

"Normally you adjust one degree here or there, or something like that. But seven degrees, that is a lot. So what can you do as a driver? Almost nothing works as a result of that.”

Verstappen also insisted that his huge spin while chasing down Perez was not the result of being “too impatient”.

"I didn't even want to overtake him there," he explained. "It's not that I was too impatient or anything like that. There was nothing I could do at that spot.

"I just wanted to hook up behind him, but suddenly I understeered off the track. Then it was more or less finished. After that I was stuck in a little train for most of the time.

"The state of the asphalt was ridiculous as well. And with this front wing set-up, there is not much you can do as a driver."