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Red Bull Racing has received a stern warning from the FIA after Max Verstappen discarded a towel from his cockpit onto the track in Hungary.
On Friday, August 1, the Dutch F1 driver explained the reasoning behind such a bizarre moment, sharing he had avoided a potentially dangerous situation.
During Free Practice 2, ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Max pulled off the racing line at Turn 3. With a slow pace, he took both hands off the steering wheel to fish a white towel out of the cockpit before tossing it out of the car.
Although the four-time world champion was able to discard the rag, it did remain on the track.
The incident was referred to the FIA race stewards, who concluded it was a potential example of an unsafe release and gave the team a warning instead of a fine.
Speaking to media after the practice, Max explained his side, noting, "It's just a towel that you normally wipe your face with when you come back in, it was still in the car when I went out."
"Instead of it maybe potentially flying in between my feet, which is the dangerous part, I drove off line, and I got rid of it in the safest way possible," he explained.
The FP2 did not see a desired outcome for Red Bull, as Max was only able to set the 14th-fastest time in FP2, and he regularly radioed in to the team to let them know that the car felt completely unbalanced, describing it like driving on ice.
Meanwhile, his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, was the better performer out of the two Red Bull drivers, finishing the session in ninth overall.
