Verstappen reports nail in left-front tyre during disrupted Bahrain GP start

Max Verstappen reported a nail in his left-front tyre during the disrupted start of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. He switched to a new set of intermediates during a neutralisation, when tyre changes were allowed.

The start had first been delayed by heavy rain. A software problem that emerged on the warm-up lap and also affected Verstappen led race control to postpone it again.

After the start procedure failed, drivers were called in. Verstappen drove through the pit lane behind the Safety Car and picked up a piece of metal in his tyre. On the radio, he told race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase there was a nail in the tyre; when Lambiase asked whether it was the left-front, Verstappen confirmed it. Mechanics waiting with cooling equipment had also spotted the nail.

A later neutralisation gave Verstappen, like the rest of the field, the chance to switch from intermediates to slicks.