Ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, reigning World Champion Max Verstappen had his car investigated by the FIA, as part of a random check carried out by the governing body.
The FIA revealed on Wednesday that Verstappen’s car had been randomly selected for checks, after the Dutchman finished in the top ten at the Australian Grand Prix.
After each race the FIA randomly select a car that finished in the top 10, with Verstappen having, of course, finished at the very top of the top 10 at the Albert Park Circuit.
As part of the checks, the FIA looked at Verstappen’s dampers, sensor systems and suspension, all of which passed.
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“After the race of the Australian GP, car number 01 was randomly chosen among the top ten cars for more extensive physical inspections,” the FIA report stated.
“Subject to these physical inspections were the front and rear sprung suspension components, the front and rear inboard suspension components, all front and rear dampers as well as all attached sensors logging suspension travel (including their signal against suspension travel).
“All inspected components were found to be in conformance with the 2023 Formula One Technical Regulations.”
Verstappen will be targeting a second consecutive win both in the 2023 F1 season and at the Baku City Circuit, with the Dutchman having won in Baku 12 months ago.
His victory last season was fairly comfortable, after team-mate Sergio Perez was instructed not to battle the 25-year-old.
With two wins from the opening three races, Verstappen has certainly made an exceptional start to his title defence once again, with him already being the clear favourite for the title.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has warned, though, that winning the title might not be as easy as most are making it out to be, with the Briton warning that the team’s reliability could “disrupt” their momentum.
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“Reliability is always something that is never too far away, particularly with these cars,” Horner said on Red Bull’s ‘Talking Bull’ podcast.
“We had some issues at the first race we had to manage. We had a driveshaft issue with Max in Saudi. Checo had a couple of issues in the build-up to qualifying in Australia.
“There’s always little things that can disrupt your flow. There’s so many things with these cars that are so complex that can go wrong, or the weather, or someone crashing and a red flag.”