‘Nonsense’ links Verstappen’s F1 radio fury to 3am sim racing farce

Red Bull believes it is “ridiculous” to suggest that Max Verstappen’s frustrations at the Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix could be linked to him racing virtual until 3am on Saturday.

Verstappen was heavily criticised by pundits for his aggressive tone during the Hungaroring race, where he repeatedly hit the pit wall due to poor strategy and lack of car pace.

Asked after the race how he would respond to critics who said he had gone too far with his aggressive language, Verstappen said defiantly: “They can all go to hell.”

Verstappen’s anger in the race was due to his appearance in a simulation race at 3am on Saturday, which led some to say he had not had enough rest as he should have.

But Red Bull does not believe this contributed to what happened – and insists Verstappen knows exactly what he needs to do to be at his best.

“He stayed up longer at Imola, I don’t know where the sleep times came from again, and he won the race,” said Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko.

“Max has a different rhythm than me or other people and the time he goes to bed is nothing out of the ordinary for him.

“He didn’t wake up until 10pm in Zandvoort when the helicopters were flying over his mobile home. He got his share of sleep. He got it as usual. This is nonsense.”

“I think people are coming to conclusions, but Max knows what is required and we trust his judgement on that,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

“He knows what it takes to drive a Grand Prix car, to win a Grand Prix and to win a World Champion title. And look, as a team, we always work as a team, and any discussions about how to improve are not always going to be through the media.”

Although Red Bull were not upset by Verstappen’s actions before the race, they indicated that some discussions may be needed this week to address his comments on the radio.

Marco suggested that it would make sense to let things settle down a bit before the team discussed the matter behind closed doors.

“We will make sure to postpone everything, and the longer the gap between individual meetings the better,” he added.

Horner said any radio conversations would not be made public, and also clarified that a comment made by Verstappen’s engineer Gianpiero Lambiasi about him being “childish” was in relation to other drivers.

“At that moment GP wasn’t referring to Max. I think he was referring to others on the radio complaining about the penalties. So I don’t think GP was referring to Max at that moment,” Horner added.

“Others obviously [want rivals to get] Penalties, because obviously the referees listen to the radio too.

“But look, they’ve been together for eight years and there are things we could have done better in the race today, but that’s something we’ll talk about as a team.”

“I think everyone sees that we need to find more performance,” Horner added. “Everyone is working hard to achieve that. So we will have any discussions behind closed doors.”