Mad Max, the next part: Anyone who expected an insightful Max Verstappen before the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Belgium in Spa (Sunday, 3 p.m., live on Servus TV) was quickly proven wrong. The Formula 1 world champion from the Netherlands defended his gruff tone towards the Red Bull crew on the pit radio at the Grand Prix in Hungary a week ago and also rejected criticism of his nightly computer game before the race. His Grand Prix tomorrow will, as expected, be a catch-up race. After changing the drive unit on his Red Bull racing car, Verstappen will be moved back ten places on the starting grid.
“I have won three world championships. I know pretty well what I can and cannot do,” said Verstappen in response to the accusation that he suffered from a lack of sleep at the Hungaroring because he was up until 3 a.m. playing a simulation race on the games console. Regarding his wild swearing on the radio during the race and his rude comments to his own race engineer, the Red Bull driver said that in this team they are “very open, very critical of each other.” And then he gave his critics the go-ahead: “People who don’t like my language shouldn’t listen, they should turn the volume down. I’m very success-oriented, I always want to optimize everything,” said Verstappen.
Perez-Cockpit wackelt
The 26-year-old also gave it his all on the track yesterday. In the first hour-long session on Friday, the world championship leader was more than half a second faster in the Red Bull than Hungarian winner Oscar Piastri in the McLaren and Williams driver Alexander Albon. The grid penalty should not be too much of a problem for him, as there are some good overtaking opportunities on the traditional circuit in the Ardennes. In addition, Verstappen has been undefeated on the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for three years. While the behaviorally problematic and anything but easy-care Verstappen is clearly number one at Red Bull, the situation is becoming increasingly tricky for his teammate Sergio Perez. The Mexican’s cockpit is wobbling dangerously. If he does not get going properly again on Sunday in Spa, he could soon lose his place in the Red Bull team. On the Monday after the Grand Prix, team advisor Helmut Marko and team boss Christian Horner will discuss this personnel issue.
Various performance clauses in Perez’s contract, which the 34-year-old is currently not fulfilling, could soon result in a driver swap in the second Red Bull cockpit. Since Monaco, Perez has only scored 17 World Championship points – Verstappen 104. In yesterday’s first practice session, the 34-year-old lost a second to his teammate. Perez is already under pressure in today’s qualifying (4 p.m.).
