AlphaTauri and Red Bull were accused of cheating at the Dutch GP to ensure Max Verstappen’s victory at his home Grand Prix.
Yuki Tsunoda triggered a late Virtual Safety Car helping Max Verstappen get a cheap pit stop. This helped Verstappen gain an advantage over Mercedes who were challenging the Dutchman the whole race.
The incident raised eyebrows in the manner it played out. It left fans debating on whether AlphaTauri was trying to help Red Bull or not.
Yuki Tsunoda went to the pits after reporting a loose tyre on his radio. However, his engineer denied it and Tsunoda came out right after only to stop again this time retiring from the race.
Since the Japanese stopped on the side of the track, it triggered a Virtual Safety Car.
This gave Verstappen a free pit stop helping him to get on a fresh set of hards.
AlphaTauri reacted to the claims
Since AlphaTauri is Red Bull’s junior team, conspiracy theories started flowing after the Dutch GP win.
However, AlphaTauri was quick to react bluntly rejecting all the accusations made against them. The team took social media to respond:
“It is incredibly disheartening to read some of the language and comments directed at our team and towards Red Bull Racing’s head of strategy, Hannah Schmitz,”
read a statement.
“Such hateful behaviour cannot be tolerated, and to entertain accusations of foul play is unacceptable, untrue and completely disrespectful towards both Hannah and us.
“We have always competed independently, fairly and with the highest levels of respect and sportsmanship.
“Yuki had a failure that the team didn’t immediately detect which caused him to stop on track.
“To suggest anything different is insulting and categorically incorrect.”
While some think that it was all a setup, others believe that it was a pure coincidence. Moreover, it doesn’t make sense that Red Bull would risk getting out of a whole championship just to win Verstappen’s home race.
Furthermore, even without the incident, Verstappen might have managed to take the win.
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