Verstappen’s compatriot Nyck de Vries hit the inside wall at Turn 6 on lap 10, breaking the left front suspension of his AlphaTauri and leaving him trapped in the small run around the corner.

Red Bull opted to pit Verstappen at the end of the lap, but as he left the pits, the safety car emerged to allow law enforcement to clear de Vries’ car.

This prompted Verstappen’s rivals to respond and, thanks to the reduced running speed, Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc were able to pass him at a lower pit stop cost.

Verstappen was able to clear Leclerc on the restart, but he believes the untimely pit stop did damage to his own race – and believes it’s something the team needs to look into.

“I saw a car pull up and I thought maybe he was just locked up,” Verstappen said.

“In hindsight, I mean, I can’t see that, but it’s something that needs to be reviewed. I mean, obviously, you can see that there’s a broken wheel, it doesn’t look like he’s going to do it anyway. Will drive it back to the pits even if he reverses.

“So to watch something because after that that really hurt my game.

“You see it on the screen, but if the wheels are properly connected to the car, you can’t look at the details. I mean, of course the team has more of an overview of that. But like I said, you know, we’ll look into Take a look, if there’s anything we could have done differently.

“I also don’t know exactly when the call came in, so it’s kind of hard to say right now.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures

Verstappen explained that he tried to push on the restart to try to close Perez and get into DRS range, but lost too much life to his tires as he worked to close the gap.

From there he decided to sit down and manage his tires, especially as he struggled to keep his balance on his Red Bull RB19.

“After the safety car, I was trying to put pressure on Checo to try and get into the DRS. I think at one point I was very close to it, but it just hung there very close, trying to really catch up.

“In such a long time, I probably broke the tire a little too early. So for once, I just settled in and tried to do something of my own so that the tire didn’t break completely at the end.

“But it’s hard to keep a good balance going into the mid-corner, and a lot of time here is about going into the mid-corner to get the balance right. I’m just torn between oversteer and understeer, so the whole race I was A lot was tried on the steering wheel to try and get a better feel and balance in the car.

“Actually, I think I found a good compromise towards the end of the race because I think my last 10 laps were stronger and I was happier with the car, how everything was going.”