Max Verstappen ended up in 4th spot after a fiercely contested 2018 season, leaving behind Bottas and teammate Ricciardo.
Max was heavily criticised for his crashes and ‘over aggressive’ driving in the first half of the season, but he got his act together in the second half and has been a fierce competitor ever since.
However, one thing that hasn’t really changed in the second half of the season is Max’s radio messages. They have been fiery all through the season, with a lot of the frustration directed towards Renault.
But during the Abu Dhabi GP, his frustration was directed towards his engineer, something that the engineer did not take too well, shutting Max up.
Max told his engineer that he had weird engine braking, to which his engineer cheekily replied that going up on torque was only going to help that.
And because Max had asked his engineer to ‘listen, listen’, the frustrated engineer told him that he did not need to tell him to listen, as he was anyways listening to Max all the time.
Max: Mate, listen listen. I have weird engine breaking.
Engineer: Well going up on torque is only going to help that.
Engineer: And I am listening, you don’t need to tell me to listen mate.
Check out the video. The exchange between Max and his engineer happens after 2:39.
Now, on the whole Verstappen has had a very fruitful season, one where he has shown us that with a better package, he is a sure contender for the world championship. Hopefully the Honda engine can give the Red Bull package that necessary oomph.
