Max Verstappen has been spared a heavy punishment after being involved in a strange incident at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The reigning world champion is seeking an unlikely victory in Budapest, with McLaren very much the dominant force. He will head into the summer break with a spring in his step if he manages to upset the odds on Sunday.

His weekend got off to an unusual start when he was involved in a bizarre moment in Friday's second practice session. Verstappen was spotted throwing a small white towel out of his cockpit at Turn Three, prompting an investigation from the stewards. The verdict arrived shortly after the end of the session, with Red Bull being handed a formal warning.

In a statement, the stewards said: "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 stewards determine that the towel had the potential to have become lodged in the footwell and to interfere with the driver's ability to fully control the car and that, therefore, the car was released in an unsafe condition.

"The stewards consider this case to be distinguishable from a case where a hard (and therefore potentially dangerous) object is left in the cockpit and to be less severe than such a case, hence a warning to the team is imposed."

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the session, Verstappen said: "It was just a towel that you normally wipe your face with when you come back in.

"It was still in the car when I went out, so instead of it maybe flying between my feet, which is the dangerous part, I drove off the line and got rid of it in the safest way possible. I think the stewards understand that."

Verstappen finished the session down in 14th place and was left unhappy with the performance of his car, saying over the radio that it was 'undriveable'. His team-mate Yuki Tsunoda fared slightly better, coming home in seventh place.

Asked to elaborate on what went wrong, Verstappen said: "Today was very tough, just a really low grip feeling. There wasn't really a balance in the car so it's even difficult to say what the exact problem is.

"Nothing really worked, so it's something we have to investigate overnight because so far it's been a bad weekend."

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