The 2026 Formula 1 season started busily at the Australian GP, held at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne. During the free practice sessions of the opening round of the championship, Max Verstappen experienced a tense moment when he went off track and through the gravel trap, causing damage to the Red Bull car.
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The incident happened during FP2, while the four-time world champion was still looking for rhythm on the Australian circuit. Passing through Turn 10, Verstappen lost control of the car and ended up going off into the gravel. Despite the scare, the driver managed to avoid a more serious crash and returned to the track shortly after.
Even without a direct impact against the barriers, the trip through the gravel caused significant damage to the car. While crossing the run-off area, parts of the floor were destroyed, with carbon fiber fragments being thrown behind the car.
Red Bull’s chief engineer, Paul Monaghan, assessed the damage after the session and stated that the team will have work to do to recover the car before the next activities of the weekend.
“I’ll say there’s enough damage to keep us busy,” Monaghan commented while analyzing the situation. Despite this, the engineer indicated that the problem is not considered critical.
“It’s recoverable. It’s nothing too drastic, but it was a heavy hit. We’ll fix everything and get back on track,” he added.
Even with the damage to the car, Verstappen managed to continue the session and finished FP2 in sixth position. The driver was 0s637 behind the best time of the day, recorded by Oscar Piastri, who is racing at home for McLaren.
Piastri marked 1min19s729, being one of two drivers who managed to drop below the 1min20s mark per lap at the Albert Park circuit. The second best time was from Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who was 0s214 behind the Australian.
As for Verstappen, even with the damaged floor after the excursion, he recorded 1min20s366 and finished among the fastest of the session.
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Overall, Monaghan showed satisfaction with Red Bull’s initial performance at the start of the season, especially considering the major technical changes that came into force in Formula 1 in 2026.
According to him, the team started the weekend with a completely new package, including the car and also the power unit developed by Red Bull itself.
“Fantastic,” said the engineer when commenting on the start of the team’s activities. “Totally new engine, developed by us, new car, new regulations. Even so, both cars left the pit lane in FP1 and already showed competitiveness.”
Monaghan also commented on the adaptation of Verstappen’s new teammate, Isack Hadjar, who is making his debut for Red Bull this season.
“Isack is still adapting, understanding the car. He is quite direct and knows what he wants. Max, as always, is extremely competitive,” he stated.
According to the engineer, the car showed good overall balance, although some small problems arose during FP2, which ended up limiting the team’s work a bit.
“Our main goal now is to understand how to extract consistent laps from this car, both in qualifying pace and race pace,” explained Monaghan.
Red Bull intends to use the next sessions of the Australian GP weekend to improve the car’s setup and ensure it can repeat competitive laps in different racing conditions.
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