Nerves on edge between Max Verstappen and the Red Bull pit wall in the Hungarian GP race. From the start to the finish the driver gave in to nerves via team radio, lashing out at his engineer Lambiase
In the Hungarian GP anything happened, between tensions on the track, team orders, hysteria and a battle on the edge of tyre management. Behind to the triumph of a very lucid Oscar Piastri (albeit courtesy of McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who behaved not as a cynical driver but as the gentleman he is) a race took place that gave us the spectacle that has been lacking in F1 for a few seasons, anesthetized by the domination Red Bull con Max Verstappen. And, speaking of the latter, the Dutch driver had a Sunday that to call nervous would be an understatement.
F1, Hungarian GP: nerves on edge between Verstappen and Red Bull
On an RB20 that featured a significant package of updates, the reigning champion had to deal with frustration, stemming from the fact that the new features did not give him the answers he was looking for. This was already evident in yesterday’s qualifying, but the thorns came home to roost today. However, what infuriated the skittish Verstappen, more than the car, was the team, in the sense that along the seventy laps at the Hungaroring the driver literally argued on more than one occasion with the pit wall via team radio.
The psychodrama had already taken place at the green light: Norris doesn’t get off to a great start, finding himself with Piastri on the inside and his (former?) friend Verstappen on the outside. While the Australian takes the lead, the Dutchman widens his trajectory after contact with the British driver. According to radio communications, according to Norris, Verstappen staged a maneuver at the limit to take the escape route and make the overtaking move. According to the Red Bull driver, however, it was his McLaren rival who pushed him off the track.
Verstappen’s threat and the dressing down of the team for the strategy
In the meantime, however, his team’s pit wall tells him to give back his position and not risk a possible penalty. Verstappen obeys but without any enthusiasm, blurting out: “Ok, so from now on you can push people off the track? Then tell the FIA that we will drive like this from now on“. But forgetting the events of the Austrian GP a few weeks ago, with the Dutchman who then pushed Norris out.
But Verstappen’s hysteria didn’t stop there. Another outburst of anger towards the team occurred at the height of the second pit stop, while the Dutchman was busy in the fight for the podium with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclercboth called to the pits before him to try the undercut. Which worked, and so the Red Bull champion lashed out at the team: “Unbelievable how we got screwed and completely screwed my race.”
Once he stopped to change the tyre and fit a new one, Verstappen then responded in kind to his reference engineer Gianpiero Lambiase: “You guys gave me this shitty strategy, okay? I’m trying to save what can be saved!”
Contact with Hamilton. Lambiase: “Max don’t be childish”
Still, Contact with Hamilton on lap 63 further inflamed tempers. For the record, Verstappen tried to overtake his historic nemesis at Turn 1, but by activating the DRS he then delayed braking, locking all the wheels and impacting the left rear of the RB20 with the right front of his rival’s Mercedes. The Red Bull car wheeled up and hovered in the air before landingbut for both of them there were no further consequences. Apart from Verstappen who finished fifth while Hamilton managed to secure the podium behind the McLarens.
Here Lambiase scolded his driver, who complained about a movement under braking by the British driver: “I will not get into a radio battle with the other Max teams. Let the stewards do their job. Complaining on the radio is for kids“. Then, reminding the Dutchman that the FIA medical delegate could have checked him in the parc fermé given the flight with the RB20, the engineer was told: “Let him be sent to the commissioners so they can check it out. I’m absolutely fine.”
Verstappen: “If my way of doing things isn’t right, you can go to hell”
Subsequently, as reported by Autosport, Verstappen rejected any accusations of a certain arrogance by confronting the team: “I don’t understand why he can’t be directed by radio. If someone doesn’t like it, they can go to hell..” Better to leave it at that.
Source: sport.virgilio.it
