Red Bull believes it is “nonsense” to suggest that Max Verstappen’s frustrations during the Hungarian Grand Prix in Formula 1 can be linked to the fact that he was sim racing until 3am on Saturday night.
Verstappen was criticized by critics for his aggressive tone during the race at the Hungaroring, repeatedly hitting out at the pit wall for the poor strategy and lack of pace of the car.
When asked after the race how he responded to critics who said he went too far with his aggressive language, a defiant Verstappen said: “They can all go to hell.”
Verstappen was angered when he was spotted sim racing at 3am on Saturday night, with some claiming he was not as well rested as he should have been.
But that is something Red Bull does not believe contributed to what happened – and insists Verstappen knows exactly what he needs to do to be at his best.
Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s motorsport advisor, said: “In Imola he was awake even longer, I don’t know where he got the sleep times from, and he won the race.
“Max has a different rhythm than me or other people and the time he goes to bed is not unusual for him.
“He didn’t even wake up at ten o’clock in Zandvoort when the helicopters flew over his camper. He has his sleep quota. He has had it again as usual. That’s crap.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, during the qualifying press conference
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “I think people are jumping to conclusions, but Max knows what is needed and we trust his judgement.
“He knows what it takes to drive a Grand Prix car, win Grand Prix and become world champion. And look, as a team, we always work as a team, and any discussions about how we can improve will never happen through the media.”
While Red Bull is not alarmed by Verstappen’s pre-race antics, the company has indicated there may be a need for a discussion about his radio tirades this week.
Marko suggested that it would be wise to let the situation settle for a while before the team discussed the matter behind closed doors.
“We’re making sure everything is postponed,” he said. “The more time between individual meetings, the better it will be.”
Horner said there would be no public discussion on the radio. He also clarified that Verstappen’s engineer Gianpiero Lambiase’s comment about ‘childish’ was also about other drivers.
“GP wasn’t actually referring to Max at that point,” Horner added. “I think he was referring to others on the radio who were complaining about penalties. So I don’t think GP’s reference at that point was to Max.
“Others of course [want rivals to get] punishments, because of course the stewards also listen to the radio.
“But look, they’ve been together for eight years and there are things we could have done better in the race today, but that’s something we’ll talk about as a team.”
Horner added: “I think everyone sees that we need to find more performance. And everyone is working hard to do that. So we’ll have all discussions behind closed doors.”