Verstappen's team radios grips the paddock, but not everyone is so critical

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F1 paddock under the spell of radio messages Verstappen
26 July at 08:01
  • Nicole Mulder

Max Verstappen is known for not mincing his words, but he was rarely heard as irritated as he was during the Hungarian Grand Prix. Even in the paddock at Spa-Francorchamps, there is still plenty of talk about the Red Bull Racing driver's team radio outbursts, but is it justified? Opinions are sharply divided on the matter.

Verstappen was heavily criticised by various media, including Sky Sports. Former Formula 1 drivers Martin Brundle and Karun Chandhok believed that the Dutchman could have been less critical towards his team, especially towards race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. Jan Lammers was also critical: although he understood Verstappen's frustrations, he saw a less attractive side of the three-time world champion, who according to Lammers 'is quite a bad loser'.

As well as criticism, there is also support for Verstappen

However, there is also support for Verstappen. Daniel Ricciardo, who was the Dutchman's teammate for many years, supported him in Belgium. The VCARB driver says everyone deals with frustration in the cockpit in their own way and that Verstappen is simply a driver who speaks out, especially when tensions run high as was the case in Budapest.

There is also support for Verstappen from Red Bull. Team boss Christian Horner immediately showed understanding for his driver's frustration after the F1 race at the Hungaroring and Helmut Marko emphasized that it is not uncommon for Verstappen to be irritated. Moreover, it did not help that the updates that Red Bull had introduced did not yield the advantage that Verstappen had hoped for.

Verstappen and Lambiase in talks

Marko suggested that Verstappen and his race engineer would talk to each other this weekend, and this was also confirmed by Verstappen himself during a press moment in Belgium. That conversation had not yet taken place at that time but was planned for later in the day. According to the Dutchman, such conversations are very normal and that is no different this time. His approach will not change because of this: Verstappen advises those who have difficulty with his radio messages to turn the volume down a bit and especially not to listen.

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy