Max Verstappen has had a disappointing stint since his last win at the Spanish Grand Prix for a driver of his caliber. Last week at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Dutchman finished fifth. However, to make things worse, his race was filled with collisions and angry onboard radio exchanges, resulting in tense situations at the Red Bull Garage.
Helmut Marko admits to a tense atmosphere within Red Bull due to Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were battling during a huge chunk of the Hungarian Grand Prix, resulting in multiple unfortunate collisions for the once-cutthroat rivals.
Verstappen had gone off the road when the Brit put the defence at Turn 2, eventually the back and forth resulted in both of the Dutchman’s front wheels locking up. During this, Hamilton came closer to try and defend the Red Bull’s attack. Verstappen slid straight on and hit Hamilton’s right front tire.
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Neither driver received penalties, but it resulted in ‘rude’ radio exchanges from the 3-time world champion to his engineer. Upon this, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko commented on the atmosphere in the garage. He said to Kleine Zeitung:
“The atmosphere is a bit tense… It [the race] got out of hand and started with the fact that he didn’t think he should have given back the position after Turn 1. Then one thing led to another.”
🚨 | Drivers have been told to stop swearing on the radio.
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) July 26, 2024
The issue of swearing was brought up during the commission meeting on Tuesday.
But Max Verstappen insisted he would not change his language:
“[If] people don’t like my language, then don’t listen in, turn the volume… pic.twitter.com/C9hQduH6Ql
Helmut Marko also commented on Verstappen’s challenge this season, especially after the ten-place grid penalty for him at Spa this weekend:
“It’s a tough season for him [Verstappen], and he’s only human… We’re still in the lead, but we’re no longer so superior… There is a possibility, and then it would be ten places back on the grid. But I hope that overtaking will be easier than in Hungary.”
He concluded by saying:
“The podium is possible, but it will be much more difficult than in previous years.”
Lewis Hamilton gives his thoughts on Max Verstappen’s radio messages in Hungary.
When asked about his thoughts on how Verstappen should deal with Red Bull’s performance back in Hungary, Lewis Hamilton said:
“You have to be a team leader, a team member. Maybe not so much a team leader, but more so, just always remember you are a teammate with lots of people.”
The Brit called out his Dutch rival and said he needs to “act like a world champion.”
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Furthermore, the two had promised a conversation to discuss the incident post-race; however, to the current knowledge, it has not happened yet. Hamilton acknowledged it and said:
“No, we didn’t talk afterwards. We went to the stewards, and that’s it. We’ve not had a talk… I don’t know if we will if we get time. Maybe we’ll talk in the [drivers’] parade this weekend, maybe. I’ve not felt like there’s necessarily a need to, but there might be something he wants to say. But we didn’t get the time to do it.”
Right now the focus for Verstappen is the Belgian Grand Prix this Sunday, and along with it, to try and overcome his grid penalty along with maximizing his points to improve the driver championship and constructor’s gap.
Rohit Kumar