Source:REUTERS/Mark Peterson
[Saba Sports News] Max Verstappen’s qualifying session at the Australian Grand Prix lasted only a few seconds before his RB22 car suddenly lost control and crashed into the wall. After qualifying, Red Bull Racing’s technical director Pierre Wache inspected the incident, revealing that the cause of the crash was not driver error, brake balance issues, or mechanical failure, but rather a software misconfiguration that set the energy recovery intensity to an excessively high value. Due to the overly aggressive energy recovery strategy, the rear axle immediately locked up when he released the throttle and applied the brakes.
However, Wache reassured fans that if it weren’t for this software fault, Verstappen’s lap time could likely have been within 0.3 seconds of George Russell’s pole position time. Due to the force of the crash, the steering wheel jerked, resulting in an injury to Verstappen’s wrist. Fortunately, after being checked at the medical center, he confirmed that he was not seriously injured.
The editor believes that there are many unreasonable aspects in the technical regulations for the 2026 F1 cars, which are difficult to change but must be adjusted. Otherwise, more incidents similar to Verstappen’s could occur. At the speed Verstappen was traveling, there was simply no way to save the car.