F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Vettel wondered 'who is next' after Baku tyre failures

Sebastian Vettel admitted to feeling uneasy after Max Verstappen's crash in the closing stages of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, wondering who would be next to suffer a tyre failure in the race.

The 51-lap event in Baku was marked by two big crashes caused by tyre failures, the first of which occurred on lap 29 and involved Vettel's Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll.

"I didn't know what had happened," Vettel explained after last Sunday's race

"I thought he might have hit the wall on the outside in Turn 19, but when I passed there on the next lap I saw no traces of that. The team told me Lance was fine. was, but it was strange."

Having speculated that the Canadian's misfortune had been caused by a puncture or a failure of some sort, Vettel's concerns really grew later on in the race when he arrived upon a litter of debris spread across the track towards following Verstappen's heavy contact with the wall.

For Vettel, tyres quickly became a cause for concern.

"When Max Verstappen also crashed it became clear that the question 'who's next?' presented itself," Vettel said.

"This should not happen, so an investigation is in order. It happened at the worst possible point.

"It can go really wrong, as we are going over 300 km/h there and there is a wall at the entrance to the pit lane."

The four-time world champion fortunately completed the race without drama, crossing the checkered flag in second place and scoring Aston Martin's for podium in F1.

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

Sainz samples new Madring: ‘You’ve created quite a cocktail’

The Spanish Grand Prix’s future home is still surrounded by construction barriers, deadlines and heavy…

9 hours ago

Ten years on: Marko reveals Horner resisted Verstappen promotion

Helmut Marko has revealed that Max Verstappen’s in-season promotion from Toro Rosso to Red Bull…

11 hours ago

Schumacher and Irvine paint the town red in Monaco

On this day in 1999 in Monaco, a dominant Michael Schumacher secured his 35th career…

12 hours ago

Rosenqvist finds 233 mph magic at Indy on Fast Friday

Sometimes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, speed doesn’t build gradually – it arrives like it…

13 hours ago

McLaren powers up: Intel returns to F1 after 20-year hiatus

Nearly two decades after its last high-speed venture in Formula 1, American computing giant Intel…

14 hours ago

Verstappen admits to 'super tough' Nürburgring 24 Hours qualifying

Max Verstappen’s Nürburgring 24 Hours debut is already delivering the kind of storyline only he…

15 hours ago