2023-07-31 15:30:11
After a bit of further exasperation in the communication between Max Verstappen and his race engineer at Spa-Francorchamps, all is well following another victory.
This weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen and his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase had already been noticed by an argument during qualifying where the championship leader had come close to elimination in Q2. A similar scenario repeated itself this Sunday, during an event finally won hands down by a Verstappen penalized on the grid.
Indeed, when Lambiase was worried regarding the deterioration of the tires on the Red Bull hit with the number 1, the Dutchman wanted to know if the same request was made to his teammate Sergio Perezwho was then ahead of him in the lead of the race.
The exchange between Lambiase and Verstappen
licked: “Remember, Max, please use your head.”
Verstappen : “Are we both doing it, or what?”
licked: “Just follow my instructions, thank you.”
Verstappen : “No. I want to know if both cars do.”
licked: “Max, please follow my instruction and trust it, thank you.”
Afterwards, when Verstappen returned to soft tires and set the provisional fastest lap, Lambiase expressed his disapproval: “You used the tire a lot on the out lap, Max. I’m not sure that was reasonable.”
The Red Bull driver was significantly quicker than the competition and would finish the race 22 seconds ahead of Sergio Pérez – so much so that he suggested a final pit stop in order to secure the fastest lap and the point that goes with, that was finally going to be granted Lewis Hamilton.
At the end of the race, Max Verstappen clarified these remarks, according to him 50% serious, 50% humor. “I know the team don’t like to make an extra stop, but I like to mention it, just to make them a little nervous”he smiled. “And I like the response, ‘Oh no, we’re not going to do that today. It’s not serious. We know each other very well and we have a very good relationship.”
As for team manager Christian Horner, when Motorsport.com asked if these radio messages had worried him, he said: “No, that’s why we didn’t make a stop [pour faire le meilleur tour]. We didn’t want to be too greedy, because we won the sprint race yesterday, we did a one-two today, so we didn’t want to end up looking like fools by compromising that in any way. To have slipped a point, I doubt it will keep anyone awake tonight.”
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