Norris almost had a bonus: Verstappen was 'within a lap' of a retirement

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen are fighting for the title. The McLaren driver has a 52-point gap to bridge with six Grands Prix and three sprints remaining. However, a Red Bull mechanic revealed that the gap was very close to being much slimmer. This would've been a bonus for Norris as he already needs to maximise all of the remaining weekends.

Norris almost had a bonus

Verstappen won the opening two races of the 2024 Formula 1 season, extending his winning streak to nine races, including the final races from 2023. That run ended at the Australian Grand Prix. His brakes overheated, and he retired. Michael Manning is ultimately responsible for ensuring smooth Red Bull starts. He explained to De Telegraaf that Verstappen was close to a second DNF during the season.

"There was a sensor problem with the clutch then. At a time like that, we have to understand very quickly, within a lap, what the problem is and fix things. Otherwise, the clutch would have broken and he would have retired," Manning explained. He didn't clarify which Grand Prix this incident occurred in.

Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase often gives instructions to his driver, such as fail-16 or fail-20, to help solve problems like that. Manning explains that Verstappen had to make changes on his steering wheel. "In this case it was about switching off that sensor. That worked, thankfully. Today's cars are very reliable, but this is an example that you should always keep monitoring everything," Manning said.

This article has been created in collaboration with Nicole Mulder