The value that Max Verstappen brings to Red Bull cannot be underestimated. In 2023 alone, the 3x champion has been breaking several records with how dominant he’s been. But it’s not all roses at the Milton-Keynes-based team. Verstappen has a knack for getting riled up a bit too much. Hence, his outbursts on the team radio comms have become notorious. At the 2023 US Grand Prix, Christian Horner even contemplated shutting the Dutch lion off, per F1Maximaal.nl.
Verstappen is a feisty character when he’s strapped into a Formula 1 car. On more than one occasion, we’ve seen the 26-year-old lose his cool and temper. He takes to the radio often and engages in some wordy rants.
The one man who faces the brunt of Verstappen’s angry outbursts the most is his engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase. Lambiase and Verstappen have had many famous live altercations on the radio comms.
Christian Horner had enough of Verstappen’s bickering at the 2023 US Grand Prix
During the race last Sunday, Verstappen was nursing an apparent brake issue. This was enough to get him riled up. And while Verstappen was losing ground to both Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton, his engineer, Lambiase tried giving him all the updates possible. But Verstappen angrily shouted GP down because he was talking to him under braking.
F1Maximaal.nl reported, “Max Verstappen regularly made himself heard on the way to his fiftieth Grand Prix victory. For example, he was not happy with his brakes. Or the fact that the race engineer was talking to him while braking. Team boss Christian Horner considered putting a sponsor sticker on Verstappen’s mouth. But then decided to place it on the cool box where all the seventeen stickers from the previous Grands Prix can be found.”
No matter how much they bicker against each other, both Verstappen and Lambiase share one of the strongest bonds in paddock. Of course their relationship is complicated but the respect between the duo, for each other, is immense.
Max Verstappen and Gianpiero Lambiase: An old married couple
According to team principal Horner, the relationship the duo share is “is more like an old married couple, almost debating about which channel of television they should be watching.” It shouldn’t come as a surprise, though, as both Verstappen and Lambiase go a long, long way.
According to the Bulls’ own testimony, “He [Lambiase] left Force India for Red Bull Racing in 2015 and was initially partnered with Daniil Kvyat. But when the Russian was replaced ahead of the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, Lambiase found himself working with a new, supremely confident and ultra-talented 18-year-old, Verstappen.”
