Max Verstappen says Red Bull “need to do a better job” and that he sees no need to apologise for a series of bad-tempered radio messages during the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The world champion repeatedly criticised his team over the radio, often using swear words, during a race in which he finished fifth following a collision with Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen said: “I don’t think we need to apologise. We just need to do a better job.
“I don’t know why people think you can’t be vocal on the radio. This is a sport. If some people don’t like that, stay home.”
Asked for his response to criticisms that he was too disrespectful to his team, he used a swear word to suggest people should go away.
His anger was directed at the fact that in race in which his Red Bull was already not fast enough to challenge the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, who finished one-two, the team made what he considered strategy errors that twice demoted him behind Hamilton – and the second time also behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
His frustrations were enhanced by the fact that Red Bull had a major upgrade on their car in Hungary but they had still not recovered their position as the fastest in the field.
“I already said yesterday maybe some people are not on the same wavelength,” he said. “It’s as severe as it is. I knew it was going to be a difficult race and beating McLaren would be tough but you at least need to get a P3 over the line and even that we couldn’t do.”
The result reduced his championship lead over Norris to 76 points and Red Bull’s over McLaren’s in the constructors’ championship to 51.
Trying to pass Hamilton in the closing stages of the race, the pair collided.
Verstappen, who has been called to the stewards to review the incident, said the Mercedes driver had caused it because he was breaking the rules by changing his line under braking.
Hamilton argued that he was simply turning into the corner on his normal line. The stewards agreed and took no further action against either driver.
Asked whether his frustrations with the race had spilt over to cause the incident, Verstappen said: “I don’t think so. I went for a move that was fully on. But then in the middle of the braking zone when I’m already committed to the move he keeps turning right and if I wouldn’t have turned while braking straight I would have made contact with him.
“So at one point naturally I lock up because he keeps on turning to the right.”
Verstappen was launched over Hamilton’s front wheel, but he managed to carry on to finish fifth in the race, dropping behind Leclerc again.
He made a reference to the criticisms he had been subjected to in his collision with Norris in the Austrian Grand Prix two races ago, for which he was given a 10-second penalty.
“People made a lot about what happened in Austria was not correct, I was moving under braking, blah, blah, blah,” Verstappen said, “but that’s on the initial move and then you hold your wheel quite straight.
“And I felt now it wasn’t on the initial move it was after, during the braking. You cannot do that when someone is committed to the inside.”
He laid the blame for the result on the team’s mistakes with strategy.
“We could still have had a P3 but the wrong strategy calls put me on the back foot where constantly I had to fight people and overtake,” he said.
“But the track is really hot and as soon as you get close to cars the tyres overheat.
“Maybe the team didn’t realise what they did wrong or they didn’t see it was so severe but in the car you have also different feelings.”
