In what was an unbelievable turn of events, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen burst his right rear tire. The Dutchman was impressive leading to the race, qualifying in P3 alongside Pierre Gasly.

Even in the race, he started brilliantly to take the left inside line and pass Hamilton into second. Mid-way through the race, he also executed an amazing move to overtake Bottas.

Just when Red Bull felt things were going well, cruel luck played its part, and Verstappen’s tire burst, which saw him spin around completely. It was ultimately very disappointing for the entire team, as they missed out on a podium opportunity.

Max Verstappen suffers massive tire blowout in Imola

Even before the incident, there were noticeable flat stops on all four tires of Verstappen’s car. He had come into the pit stops to get a fresh set of hard tires, to ensure durability.

However, just around the Lap 47 mark, Verstappen, in a bid to increase the time gap between himself and Bottas, pushed it to the limit. Ultimately, as he tried to come out around the turn, the impact resulted in retirement.

As can be seen from the video, there was no suspected debris as such that could cause significant damage. Neither were there any sharp corners, which resulted in a considerable lockup.

However, such was the suddenness of the incident, that Verstappen could do nothing about it at the time. Eventually, he slid into the gravel area with a burst rear tire.

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The race was going very well for Verstappen

Max had actually come into the race with some very good momentum built in practice as well as the qualifying. He had admitted that although it would be hard to catch up with Mercedes, the intention was to maintain P3.

However, with a particularly great start that saw him pass Hamilton, P2 was definitely there for the taking. In fact, he even had a great chance of securing that position, despite the virtual safety car being declared.

Red Bull will now need to undertake a detailed investigation of what exactly caused the incident. Rest assured, it will be something that Max Verstappen needs to be convinced of, in what was a disappointment at Imola.