Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer has questioned whether a possible mistake by Max Verstappenplayed a part in his Australian Grand Prix qualifying crash.
Verstappen started the season-opener at Melbourne’s Albert Park from 20th on the gridafter setting a lap in the opening minutes of qualifying.
As the Dutchman began a flying lap, his rear axles locked as he braked for the first corner, sending him into the gravel and, ultimately, into the barrier.
The accident caught the four-time world champion completely by surprise, with him telling media that to “lose the car like that on the braking, I’ve never experienced that in my life.”
Ahead of the race, the Austrian outfit remained unsure what exactly triggered the crash, although Palmer revealed that Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies confirmed Verstappen braked very hard.
As a result, Palmer wonders whether the 28-year-old’s hard braking was part of the reason for the crash, given that Red Bull’s RB22 is very aggressive on rear braking.
Addressing what it feels like entering a race without knowing what caused an earlier issue, Palmer said on the F1 Nation podcast: “My hunch is that it’s obviously small details that made the difference. They’ve got a car that’s massively aggressive on the rear braking and on the MGU-K harvesting.
“That’s been something that their rivals have all pointed out through testing—how aggressive they are, banging down the gears, getting good recharge. Max also came in; he was late into qualifying, and Laurent said that he sure braked really hard when he went to that first corner.
“So my hunch is that they’ve got a car that’s prone to rear locking, and Max maybe just braked too hard and sent it over the edge with a little bit of mischief from the rear axle. But it didn’t take much to tip it over when you’ve got less downforce and less grip.