Max Verstappen seems to be carrying a curse that haunts him when he steps into the Italian circuits, especially Imola. The Dutchman has been experiencing awful luck at Emilia Romagna ever since the Grand Prix’s return to the calendar last season.

And the poor run has extended into this season as well. Verstappen’s Red Bull faced a massive blow early in FP2, as a driveshaft issue forced him to retire from the session after completing just five laps.

What did Max Verstappen say?

As reported by AutoSport, the Dutchman opened up about his unlucky spell with the Italian race weekends. “I like Italy,” he said. “The food is good, I enjoy being here. Just the driving part so far hasn’t been the luckiest.

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“I had a driveshaft issue, so I had to stop the car.”

What’s painful is the horrible timing of the retirement. When the issue struck the Red Bull, Verstappen had already crossed the pit lane entry. Ultimately, he parked his car right alongside the pits on the main straight, leaving the team with no chance of receiving the car anytime soon.

Hence, the crew had to wait longer than expected, as the car made a lengthy trip around the circuit on the truck before being handed over to the Red Bull’s garage.

Should be alright: Verstappen

With the rivalry between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton flaring up, one might consider the FP2 retirement to be a massive fallback for the Dutchman.

However, the Red Bull driver reckoned that the damage is minimal despite the much lesser track run on Friday. “A little bit. But I think you know what you have to do anyway, so you should be alright,” he said.

In 2020, Verstappen failed to finish all the three race weekends in Italy – Monza, Imola, and Mugello. While Mugello’s retirement was primarily because he was caught in a chain of collisions, the other two race retirements were due to reliability issues.

This is definitely not a record one would wish to own. Hence, Verstappen will be yearning to break the shackles this time around and secure what will be his first podium on the Italian soil. But will he?

Also Read: Max Verstappen Suffers Spectacular Tire Blowout During the Emilia Romagna GP