“I never meant to hurt anyone” – Max Verstappen has expressed regret for using offensive language directed towards Lance Stroll at the Portuguese Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll had crashed on Turn 1 in the FP2 at Portimao for the Portuguese GP last week. This let out an angry response from Max on the Red Bull team radio, as Lance was at fault for it. He continued with his offensive language directed towards Stroll even after his engineer signalled him to pit and restart.
Verstappen: “Is this f****** guy blind? What the f*** is wrong with him? Jesus Christ. What a r*****. I have damage. What a mongol. I swear.”
Engineer: “OK box. Red flags and recharge on, please.”
Verstappen: “He f*** his lap, I’m trying to prepare my lap, and he just f**** my lap by just opening DRS and staying on the normal line. No respect. But yeah, doesn’t matter.”
After the race, when asked if he regretted those words, Max replied in the negative. He also termed the contact “very unnecessary”.
“He just turned in while I was coming up to him. I don’t know where I had to go. It’s FP2 and it’s just a shame that we touch. It was very unnecessary.”
The R word isn’t cool period. I used it when I was a dumb edgy teenager that didn’t know what that word meant to those it’s used against.
When I was told I stopped using it & learned.
The fact that Max Verstappen doesn’t care when asked about saying it is childish and hurtful.
— Danny (@DannyBrennan72) October 23, 2020
Max Verstappen apologises to Lance Stroll
After receiving a reprimand from the Red Bull team, especially from advisor Dr. Helmut Marko, Verstappen has finally admitted to his folly. He added that it was in the heat of the racing moment, and meant no offence in the long-term.
“It happened in the heat of the moment. I know the words I used were not correct. I never meant to offend anyone.”
Max also indicated that all is good between Lance and him now, like it should be in professional sport. He also added that though, he cannot go back and change it, he’s learnt from it, and “will do better” in future instances.
Max is known for his feistiness and speaking his mind, which the F1 community loves. But fair to say, his aforementioned comments for Lance was a bit too much.
“Of course I was swearing at Lance but then I saw him straight away after and that’s what racing drivers are, we can be angry with each other but five minutes later and we look each other in the eyes, it can be forgotten.”
“Things get heated up from the outside. I never meant to hurt anyone. I also know it was not correct but I cannot change it but of course, you learn from it and we will do better.”
Meanwhile, his boss Christian Horner has spoken on the Alex Albon situation, showing confidence in him, for the time being. Horner also has advice for his driver – cut the noise, and focus on the job at hand.
“Its Alex’s seat and he’s got his bum in the car and everyone wants him to retain that seat. He needs to lock out the outside noise, keep his head down, and have a good weekend.”
