Championship leader Max Verstappen was left fuming during the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix sprint on April 29 after his car made contact with the Mercedes of George Russell. The Dutchman could not believe that the Briton did not get a penalty for the incident despite ‘causing a collision’.
Verstappen’s remarks came on the team radio after his engineer told him that his car had floor damage. On hearing the same, the 25-year-old asked, ‘How’.
His engineer then asked him, ‘how do you think,’ to which a furious Verstappen replied, “Did he really drive into the side? I don’t understand how he can keep the position and is damaging my car. It’s kinda ridiculous,” The Dutchman would then also confront Russell after the sprint and ensure that the Briton received a piece of his mind.
F1 fans unhappy with Max Verstappen complaining on his radio
Several F1 fans, such as Robin, mocked Max Verstappen for ‘crying’ on the team radio after his Red Bull made contact with Mercedes’ George Russell.
Is the baby crying again?
— Robin_The_HNIC (@RobinHnic) April 29, 2023
Meanwhile, some other fans, such as Heather pointed out how Max ‘would do the exact same’ if the roles were reversed.
While he’s not wrong, he would do the exact same and worse if the roles were reversed.
— Heather Knibbs (@HevRev18) April 29, 2023
And then there were also some fans, such as Stefan, who referred to Verstappen as ‘hypocritical’.
a bit hypocritical 😂😭
— Стефан Марсенић (@MarsenicStefan) April 29, 2023
Verstappen finishes third in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix sprint
Despite making contact with Mercedes’ George Russell, Max Verstappen managed to get past the Briton eventually and finish the Azerbaijan GP sprint in third. Consequently of his result, he added six vital points to his tally in the fight for the world championship.
Verstappen now has 75 points and currently leads the championship from his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez by 13 points. The Dutchman will now hope that he can carry on his fantastic form over to the main race on Sunday, where the main points are up for grabs.
The 25-year-old starts Sunday’s race in second place, just behind the Ferrari of pole-sitter Charles Leclerc. Considering that Red Bull has been much faster than Ferrari during the race, Verstappen will fancy a win.
As for his championship rival Perez, he starts in third place. The Mexican, for his sake, will hope that he can get the better of Verstappen on the race start and outscore his teammate.
