Max Verstappen must serve a drive-through penalty early during the Italian Grand Prix as punishment for losing his bodywork during qualifying.
His Scuderia Toro Rosso team raced to change the Dutchman’s engine, but failed to secure the engine cover properly, only for it to shed itself on track on his installation lap.
“The bodywork was only 50 per cent [secured] with all the bolts – we thought it would hold on as it is quite strong,” said Verstappen afterwards. “I think it just got a bit too much vibration out of the pit.
“I just felt a little bit of a vibration before and then once I lost it I slowed down.”
The stewards deemed that the team sent him on track in an unsafe condition and thus was handed the penalty. He had already been given an engine change penalty ahead of the race at Monza.
