Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko has identified the cause of the puncture Max Verstappen suffered in the early phases of the São Paulo Grand Prix.
The Dutch driver stormed through the field at Interlagos to rescue a podium finish from the pit lane, but his progress was stalled after damage to the right-front tyre he started the 71-lap race on.
Shortly after the safety car restart on lap six, during a subsequent virtual safety car period, Verstappen was brought in to change his hard compounds Pirellis for the yellow-walled mediums. It seemed an unconventional strategy, but it later transpired to be out of necessity.
Marko, who felt the four-time F1 drivers' champion could have finished even higher without the disruption to Red Bull's plans, explained that it was caused by debris picked up from one of the many early incidents.
It may have been the final nail in the coffin of Verstappen's slim championship hopes, with Lando Norris extending his lead in the title fight to 49 points over the 68-time grand prix winner on a difficult weekend for Red Bull.
In his column for Speedweek, Marko wrote: "In Brazil, we decided with Max to start from the pit lane after making many changes to the car and fitting a new engine.
"Hand on heart, I had thought Max might finish somewhere between fifth and seventh. But once again, he showed his outstanding talent – and perhaps he could even have finished second.
"To make matters worse, we had a slow puncture. That’s why our strategy with the hard tyre didn’t work out. We had planned to stay out much longer on track. And – unlike some other drivers – Verstappen had good pace on the hard compound.
"The plan was therefore to make up positions when the drivers on soft or medium tyres had to come in for their pit stops. We were going to keep an eye on the wear, possibly even trying to get through the race with just one stop. But things turned out differently.
"Max picked up the puncture from a piece of carbon debris from other cars colliding – either from [Lance] Stroll against [Gabriel] Bortoleto or [Franco] Colapinto against [Lewis] Hamilton.
"Fortunately, one of our data engineers noticed it and warned us straight away. We had a bit of luck with the timing of the virtual safety car during the necessary tyre change.
"The behaviour of the hard tyre in Brazil was a bit of a mystery: many rivals struggled with it, but Max was able to put in very competitive laps. All teams have found several times this year that the hard compound hasn’t performed as expected."
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