Max Verstappen inadvertently brought out his inner Super Mario with a move which ruined title rival Charles Leclerc's race at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Both drivers started the race a lot further back than they are used to, owing to their grid penalties for new engine components. But while Verstappen was able to win comfortable from 14th, Leclerc could only manage sixth after receiving damage and a grid penalty.
Like Verstappen he had made early progress up the order and was soon running in ninth after starting 15th. But he was forced into the pits early after reporting smoke coming from his front right wheel under braking.
While changing tyres, a member of the Ferrari crew was able to remove a tear-off from his brake duct. It is common for drivers to tear layers off their visors while racing as they pick up debris, and team chief Mattia Binotto later revealed that this particular piece of plastic had been tossed into the air by Verstappen.
It proved even more costly down the line, as a sensor damaged by the tear off failed to stop Leclerc from speeding in the pit lane. That saw him slapped with a five-second time penalty, which dropped him a place in the results at the end of the race, as Fernando Alonso instead finished fifth.
"It was really, really borderline. I think it was by 0.1kph in the average speed in the pit lane," said Binotto after the race. "We were not using our normal sensors for measuring the speed because they had failed during the overheating of the front-right due to the tear-off of Max.
"Our recovery strategy was maybe not so accurate for this 0.1. Overall, it has been an unlucky situation. It is not because of that that we should stop deciding to be brave and go for a fast lap when the conditions are there to go for it."
Fans couldn't help but notice that the accidental sabotage was similar to the video game Mario Kart, in which players can throw items such as bananas to cause rivals to spin. Photoshopped images soon began to appear on social media with the tear-off replaced by items from the game.
After the race Verstappen said he hoped that the tear-off which affected Leclerc was not his, adding: "So much dirt, I pulled off my tear-off because I barely could see anything. On a track like this you are taking them off really quickly. And that is the worst nightmare. Unfortunately these things do happen."
