'I have to feel sorry for Verstappen'

Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen were shocked when their left rear tyre suddenly burst during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Although they were driving on the straight, it could have ended badly for both drivers. In his column, Mika Hakkinen expresses his concerns about the problem.

The two-time world champion saw Verstappen drive an excellent race, but drop out a few laps before a finish. "I have to feel sorry for Max Verstappen," he wrote in his column on Unibet. "He drove such a strong race from P3 on the grid, only to suffer that terrible tyre failure on the main straight, at maximum speed. There is a right-hand kink in the straight, which will have put a load on the left rear tyre, and that is the one which failed."

Hakkinen, therefore, hopes that Formula 1 will investigate properly what went wrong in the coming period. "The fact that both incidents took place at the same location, at maximum speed, means that the FIA together with the teams and Pirelli will need to look carefully at all the data, and really try to understand the reasons."

Hamilton's mistake during Azerbaijan GP

With Verstappen's retirement, Hamilton looked set to regain the lead in the world championship. However, the Englishman made a big mistake on the restart, which resulted in him returning home without any points.