The Red Bull driver was cruising towards victory at the Sepang International Circuit when the unusual problem struck during a chaotic opening phase.
The race had already been disrupted after a problem with the start procedure forced the drivers back into the pits. A software update was required to fix a bug that had caused confusion during the initial formation lap.
As Verstappen followed the safety car down the pit lane, he picked up a sizeable nail in his front-left tyre.
“There’s a nail in my tyre,” Verstappen told his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase.
“Front-left?” Lambiase asked.
“Front-left,” Verstappen confirmed.
Red Bull’s mechanics had already spotted the problem, with the piece of metal clearly visible in the tyre.
Fortunately for Verstappen, the red-flag stoppage allowed teams to change tyres without the usual restrictions. Red Bull quickly fitted a fresh set of intermediates, removing what could have been a race-ending problem.
Some of Verstappen’s rivals took a bigger gamble by switching directly to slick tyres for the restart.
A later safety car period gave Verstappen another opportunity to move onto slicks, putting him on the same strategy as the rest of the field.
From there, the four-time world champion took control and pulled away to secure a comfortable victory.
