Max Verstappen has had enough. Following the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Formula 1 champion didn’t hold back, telling his critics to “f*** off”.
At the Hungaroring, Verstappen found himself constantly grappling with Red Bull’s strategy. Despite his best efforts, he dropped to fifth place, then fought his way back to challenge Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton for a podium spot. As he overtook Leclerc, a collision with Hamilton at Turn 1 sent him back to fifth, where he finished.
Reflecting on the race, Verstappen stated, “They can all fuck off,” when asked about his critics’ claims that he had gone too far and disrespected his team over the radio. He also addressed the criticism for his part in the incident with Hamilton, pointing out, “I got a lot of shit thrown at me in Austria with people saying moving under braking, blah blah blah.”
Verstappen insisted he was racing clean and said, “Today, under braking he just kept turning to the right and that is why I also locked up because I was going for the move, but I saw the car on the outside kept coming at me. Otherwise, we would’ve already crashed before. I had to stop the car so that is why I locked up.”
The Dutch driver opened up about his frustrations with Red Bull’s strategy, which left him struggling to get ahead. “We didn’t have the pace to fight McLaren today, but then I think we could have still had a P3,” he explained. “The wrong strategy calls put me on the backfoot where I constantly had to fight people, trying to overtake, and it didn’t work today. The track is really hot and as soon as you get close to cars the tires overheat and basically all of the advantage that you have with the tires is not working anymore.”
Verstappen’s fiery comments underscore his frustration with both his critics and his team’s decisions. The reigning champ isn’t backing down, and his words make it clear: he’s here to race on his terms.
Source: Motorsport
