BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Max Verstappen's Red Bull team received a warning from the stewards at the Hungarian Grand Prix after the world champion discarded a towel from the cockpit of his car while driving on track in Friday practice.
Verstappen was seen throwing a white towel out of the cockpit of his Red Bull on the run between Turn 3 and Turn 4 midway through second practice.
The towel remained on the side of the track until the end of the session and Verstappen and a team representative were called to the stewards after the chequered flag to explain the incident.
Red Bull was then issued with a warning for allowing the car to leave the pits in an unsafe condition.
"Shortly after Car 1 [Verstappen] was released from its garage, the driver of Car 1 was observed to have thrown a towel out of the cockpit," a stewards' statement 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."
Asked about the incident after the session, Verstappen added: "It's just a towel that you normally wipe your face with when you come back in [to the pits] and it was still in the car when I went out.
"Instead of it maybe potentially flying between my feet, which of course is the dangerous part, I drove off line and got rid of it in the safest way possible. So I think the stewards understand that."
Verstappen finished Friday practice 14th fastest after struggling with the balance of his Red Bull throughout the session.
"Today was very tough -- just a really low-grip feeling," Verstappen said. "Not really a balance in the car, so it's difficult to say what was wrong because nothing really worked.
"We have to investigate overnight because so far this hasn't really been our weekend."