Max Verstappen had a disastrous Hungarian GP with poor qualifying per his standard, an unsatisfactory strategy, and a struggling car with upgrades that didn’t work. All this frustration was let out via the team radio, including a message for the stewards. As Mohammed Ben Sulayem spoke on the issue, Verstappen has now detailed the real issue with team radios.
According to Telegraaf.nl, Verstappen said, “First of all I would say: they shouldn’t broadcast those onboard radios, you have already solved a big part of the problem [by not broadcasting them]. People can’t hear it and simply not know what is being said there.”
️ | Max responds to Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s Instagram story warning on drivers’ criticism towards stewards
“First of all I would say: they shouldn’t broadcast those onboard radios, you have already solved a big part of the problem [by not broadcasting them]. People can’t hear… pic.twitter.com/Re1OxOFJ0I
— RBR News (@redbulletin) August 24, 2024
He added, “In every sport there will be something bad said at a certain decision, only there they don’t have a microphone under their nose. Now people hear everything and can go back to talking about it on social media. That’s where it starts.”
Verstappen was asked by his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, to look out for the medical personnel sent for him after the Hungarian GP. The Dutchman hit back by saying that he didn’t need the medical attention and to send them to the stewards’ office.
Ben Sulayem later came out to post on his Instagram how stricter actions would be taken against drivers’ radio messages. He explained that because of the drivers’ radio, the stewards further received a lot of hate over social media.
Verstappen countered Ben Sulayem’s claim but asked F1 not to broadcast the radio messages — a simple but effective way to resolve the issue. However, radio messages add an extra element of spice to the race.
Sebastian Vettel’s “Football Player” ideology for F1 drivers’ heated radios
Hamilton and Verstappen had an intense battle for the first few laps at the 2018 Bahrain GP. As the Briton looked at the highlights, he called the Dutchman a “d**khead” in the cooldown room. When questioned about the use of his language, Vettel jumped in to answer for Hamilton at the press conference.
Vettel said, “Do you think comparing to football, if you have a microphone on a football player’s mouth, that everything he says is something nice and is a nice message when the guy tackles him and maybe sometimes he fouls him or not?”
The German slammed the reporter for making a story out of nothing. He explained that in the heat of the moment, drivers say things, but that doesn’t necessarily imply that they mean it.
