Amidst the 2024 Formula 1 season’s pre-season testing, the Day 2 and Day 3 sessions—on Thursday and Friday—were paused for a time due to a constant ‘loose drain covers’ issue at the Bahrain International Circuit. The current generation F1 car, with its high downforce ground effect, seems to be pretty vulnerable to these loose drain covers due to the forces involved.
Regarding these loose drain covers, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen expressed his annoyance and dissatisfaction after the Bahrain pre-season testing was completed.
Max Verstappen hates persistent issue of loose drain covers
On Friday (February 23)—Day 3 of the 2024 F1 pre-season testing—Max Verstappen’s partner, Sergio Perez, became the latest victim of the ‘loose drain covers’ at the Bahrain International Circuit. Luckily, Perez drove away without any damage to his RB20, unlike Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari SF-24, which suffered a small hole due to this a day earlier.
In a post-testing interview with Motorsports.com, the defending F1 champion, Max Verstappen, expressed his concerns over a ‘possible repeat’ of the issue in the other Formula 1 venues. Talking on this subject, he started by saying, “For sure, with the ground-effect cars, probably it’s a little bit worse.”
“But also it seems like we are driving in places that not a lot of other cars are going, in terms of opening up corners and stuff. But maybe these kinds of things can be checked a bit more”, he added, advising the FIA regarding this issue.
“We know that this is a potential problem with these cars, and when you go to certain tracks, you know where the drain covers are.”
Pointing out the upcoming Bahrain Grand Prix, Max Verstappen emphasized saying “[So] Before you start driving in the weekend to double check that everything is solid is a must for the upcoming tracks, that we don’t have another situation where cars get destroyed”.
“And especially with the budget cap in place as well, it’s not nice when these things happen”, the Dutchman ended, noting the high costs of repairing F1 cars.
The Formula 1 organizer struggled badly with the ‘loose drain covers’ issue, as it persisted for two consecutive days of the pre-season testing.
Reaction from fans after F1 fails to address the drain cover issue
Following Formula 1’s multiple failed attempts at fixing the ‘loose drain covers’ at the Bahrain International Circuit, the F1 community witnessed an upsurge of troll regarding the situation. F1 fans soon took to social media to express their views on F1’s ‘loose drain covers’ failure.
On this matter, one F1 fan posted on X: “9 men looking at a drain cover which has come unstuck TWICE and no one can fix it.”
Pointing out F1’s ‘mediocre efforts’ at fixing the drain covers, one X user posted the following:
After the drain covers went off for the second time, another fan commented with the caption “Embarrassing at this point.”
The most hilarious comment on this situation surely has to be this one: “brb on my way to stomp on that drain cover.”
The Formula 1 authorities, particularly the organizers at the Bahrain International Circuit, will surely try to avoid another embarrassing ‘loose drain cover’ situation at this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
Will a ‘loose drain cover’ be Max Verstappen’s biggest rival this season? Can Formula 1 save itself from another embarrassing ‘drain cover’ issue? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
