Max Verstappen lashes out at critics following tense Hungarian GP: ‘They can all f**k off’
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen lands on the ground after a clash with Lewis Hamilton in the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen was in no mood for diplomacy after a terse Hungarian Grand Prix in which his frustrations boiled over.
Having started from third on the grid, an 0ff-colour race from Red Bull saw Verstappen fall down the order as others undercut him – leading to the Dutch driver being quite wound up by the time he took the chequered flag in fifth place.
Max Verstappen addresses media in fiery mood
Verstappen had become increasingly furious as the Hungarian Grand Prix unfolded, which started off with his Red Bull team instructing him to give up position to Lando Norris as the FIA investigated the Dutch driver for overtaking off the circuit at Turn 1.
Verstappen had felt wronged by the incident, and his mood wasn’t improved when Lewis Hamilton undercut him to gain position for the middle stint of the race. Despite being evidently quicker than the Mercedes, Verstappen couldn’t get past his former title rival and even made an uncharacteristic error when he tried to overtake him around the outside of Turn 2.
Undercut yet again at the final stops as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc got ahead, Verstappen was able to clear the Monegasque but was overly optimistic trying to overtake Hamilton into Turn 1 as the pair made contact.
Having already displayed his fury as he’d retorted to race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase that he was trying to salvage a result after being given a “s**t strategy”, Verstappen was chastised by Lambiase following the Hamilton incident as Verstappen said the Mercedes driver had moved under braking.
“I’m not even going to get into a radio fight with the other teams, Max,” Lambiase said.
“We’ll let the stewards do their thing. It’s childish on the radio Max, childish.”
Verstappen was summoned before the stewards after the race for the clash with Hamilton, with the incident having dropped Verstappen from a potential third place down to fifth and facing the prospect of a time penalty.
“They can all f**k off,” was Verstappen’s blunt response when he was asked for his response to comments that his criticism of the team, and the nature of his radio messages, had gone too far.
“I mean, of course, I’m annoyed but I’ve been annoyed before – sometimes you press in the radio to voice your opinion and that’s what I did today hoping that, maybe, the second pitstop will be a better call.
“But it wasn’t. But, for me, that is not distracting when I’m driving. Of course, I’m annoyed but you also then focus back on what you have to do and that’s, of course, controlling the car.”
Asked whether he will have harsh words for the team in the debrief, Verstappen said he didn’t expect it to be any more critical than usual: “We’ll have the debrief just like always. Like always, the same stuff.”
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Max Verstappen: I was just annoyed with today
Verstappen is well known for his obstreperous relationship over team radio with Lambiase, with the pair frequently sniping each other – however, their exchange during the Hungarian Grand Prix appeared more terse than usual.
Asked whether this was the case, Verstappen said he didn’t agree with that assessment and that he and Lambiase have had similar exchanges in the past.
“I was just annoyed with today,” he summed up.
“Maybe the team, at the time, didn’t realise what they did wrong, or they maybe didn’t see it was so severe.
“But, in the car, you have also different feelings. I already said yesterday that maybe some people are not on the same wavelength with it’s as severe as it is.
“I knew it was already going to be a difficult race and beating McLaren would be tough. But then you need, at least, to get a P3 over the line, and even that we couldn’t do.”
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