FIA make crunch call on Max Verstappen bizarre incident at F1 Hungarian GP

Max Verstappen was investigated for a bizarre incident which occurred during second practice at the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Four-time world champion Verstappen was seen throwing an object, which appeared to look like a towel, out of the cockpit of his Red Bull car and onto the side of the track on the straight before Turn 4.

The odd moment was noted by the stewards, who decided to place Verstappen under investigation. He was later given a warning.

Verstappen and Red Bull were noted by the stewards for an “alleged breach of Article 34.14 c) of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations – Car 1 allegedly being released in an unsafe condition at 17:29.”

The FIA explained their decision to warn Verstappen: "The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 1 (Max Verstappen), team representative and reviewed video and in-car video evidence.

"Shortly after Car 1 was released from its garage, the driver of Car 1 was observed to have thrown a towel out of the cockpit.

"The driver explained that while in the garage, the face towel had slipped from his lap to the side of the seat and the team was unaware that it remained in the cockpit.

"When the driver realised it was there, he moved to the far right of the track and attempted to throw it as far away from the car and the track as possible.

"The Stewards determine that the towel had the potential to have become lodged in the footwell and to interfere with the driver’s ability to fully control the car and that therefore the car was released in an unsafe condition.

"The stewards consider this case to be distinguishable from a case where a hard (and therefore potentially dangerous) object is left in the cockpit and to be less severe than such a case. Hence a warning to the team is imposed."

Difficult afternoon for Max Verstappen

It wasn’t a great afternoon for Max Verstappen, who ended up only 14th in the timesheet and over a second off the pace set by McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Verstappen was rarely outpaced by Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who finished FP2 in ninth.

The Dutchman was heard complaining that his RB21 was “undriveable” in second practice.

“I don’t know what’s going on, it's just undriveable,” Verstappen bemoaned over team radio. “I can't get any balance.”

Verstappen was only ninth fastest in first practice in Hungary on Friday morning.

Ahead of the weekend, the reigning world champion ended questions about his future by saying that he will definitely drive for Red Bull next season.

Verstappen is under contract to Red Bull until 2028 but had been heavily linked with a shock switch to Mercedes next year.

"I've never really said anything about it because I was just focused on talking to the team about how we can improve our performance, future ideas for next year as well. And that's why I have nothing really to add ever,” he said.

"But yeah, I think it's time to basically stop all the rumours. And for me, it's always been quite clear that I was staying anyway.

"I think that was also the general feeling in the team anyway, because we were always in discussions about what we could do with the car.

"And I think when you're not interested in staying, then you also stop talking about these kind of things. And I never did."