Max Verstappen says any critics of his strong radio messages to Red Bull “can all f*** off” as he was left annoyed by the team’s strategic calls in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
McLaren secured a one-two but Verstappen slipped from third on the grid to finish fifth, partly due to a late collision with Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen was having to try and pass Hamilton for third on the road having already cleared Charles Leclerc in the final stint, but was annoyed that Red Bull put him in positions to need to make overtakes and conceded track position twice through the pit stop phase.
“A tough , of course. We didn’t have the pace to fight McLaren today, but then I think we could still have had a P3,” Verstappen said. “But the wrong strategy calls put me on the back foot where I constantly had to fight people, try to overtake, but it didn’t work.
“It was really hot. As soon as you get close to cars, the tires overheat and basically all the advantage you have with the tires is not working anymore.
“Of course I’m annoyed, but I’ve been annoyed before. Sometimes you press on the radio to voice your opinion and that’s what I did today. I’m hoping that maybe the second pit stop would be a better call, but it wasn’t. 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 control the car.”