Max Verstappen has addressed the criticism he received for his radio outbursts during the Hungarian Grand Prix, asserting his right to speak his mind.
The championship leader expressed frustration last Sunday, clashing with Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages, which resulted in him finishing fifth.
Ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, where he faces a 10-grid place penalty, Verstappen was criticised for his language and tone with engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. However, he defended his actions:
“People that don’t like my language, don’t listen in or turn the volume down. I’m very driven to succeed. I’ve proven that already,” said Verstappen.
“I always want to optimise stuff. People can argue that you might not be so vocal on the radio, but that’s their opinion. My opinion is that it needs to be said at the time to maybe also try and force that the second bits would have been a bit different. That’s how it goes.”
Verstappen emphasised the importance of being critical within the team: “We are very open-minded. We are very critical of each other as a team, and that’s been working for us very well, so I don’t expect that to change.”
When asked why other drivers don’t speak to their teams the way he does, Verstappen responded: “That’s our approach. It’s important that you can be critical. In this world we live in now, I think a lot of people can’t take criticism very well like it used to be and I don’t want to end up like that.”
Verstappen and Lambiase have had a straightforward relationship since the Dutchman joined Red Bull in 2016. The three-time world champion noted that he praises the team when they do well but is also vocal when something displeases him, as seen in Hungary.
Verstappen also highlighted the unique transparency of F1, where radio communications are publicly accessible: “In other sports, people say things but they don’t have a mic attached to their mouth,” he explained.
“But I don’t care. I say what I want. That’s our sport as well. You are communicating with the pit wall. In other sports, maybe you swear about stuff you didn’t like or a team-mate didn’t pass the ball and you call them whatever, but there is no mic. That’s just our sport, I guess.”
