FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary - July 20, 2024 Red Bull's Max Verstappen ahead of practice REUTERS/Marton Monus/File Photo
BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Formula One stewards reprimanded Red Bull on Friday for a bizarre incident involving Max Verstappen throwing a face towel out of his car and onto the track during Hungarian Grand Prix practice.
The four-times world champion was summoned after the second session at the Hungaroring as stewards reviewed the video evidence.
"Shortly after Car 1 was released from its garage, the driver of Car 1 (Verstappen) was observed to have thrown a towel out of the cockpit," they said in a statement.
"The driver explained that while in the garage, the face towel had slipped from his lap to the side of the seat and the team was unaware that it remained in the cockpit.
"When the driver realised it was there, he moved to the far right of the track and attempted to throw it as far away from the car and the track as possible."
The towel landed on the asphalt, however, and remained there to the end of the session.
The stewards accepted that the towel was more dangerous in than out, with the potential to become lodged in the footwell and interfere with Verstappen's ability to control the car fully.
They also ruled that Red Bull had therefore released the car in an unsafe condition, although less serious than leaving a hard object in the cockpit.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
