The Dutchman had been fighting for a podium finish at Austin but it all went wrong when he dived in to the pits for new tyres – and the Red Bull crew were not ready for him because he had not told them.

He claimed that he had mistakenly heard an instruction ordering him to come in for tyres.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner said that Verstappen’s decision had been baffling – because there had been no communication with him on the lap he came in.

“It is something totally unusual,” explained Horner. “So he just arrived in the pitlane and said 'I am in the pitlane'.

“We are not very good at fitting tyres when we don’t know the drivers are coming in. It was a shame for him but ultimately it came to nothing because of the DNF.”

When asked if he could explain what Verstappen had heard over the radio, Horner said: “He hadn’t heard anything that lap. So it was the previous lap.

“He had been told to push, which was basically to close the gap back up to Nico because we were going to try to have an undercut on Nico [Rosberg]. It was even the lap before, and he had driven past the pits. So it sort of came from nowhere.”

Prior to Verstappen’s stop, Horner had been hoping that he could have undercut Rosberg – as he and teammate Daniel Ricciardo bid to finish behind race winner Lewis Hamilton.

“He was able to run with Nico very closely between laps 12 and 19, and we had asked him to look after his tyres so he had dropped back,” said Horner. “He would have pushed up to him again and then we would have had a possible chance with an undercut.”

Ricciardo runner-up

Horner thinks there had been a decent shot of Ricciardo finishing second, were it not for the VSC handing Rosberg second place.

“If things had gone right, we would have had track position to Nico, who would have fitted the softer tyre later and then would have had to fight for the second place on track rather than be gifted it with the VSC,” he said.

“So we cannot be too disappointed with today. Ultimately we got a podium out of the race, and we have extended our lead in the constructors’ championship by three points over Ferrari.

“For Max, his race unfortunately started to go wrong when he made an unscheduled stop. He thought he had heard a call the previous lap having got himself confused, and then shortly after pitting the gearbox failed. It was a shame because I think without that he would have had a clear run to fourth position.”