“It’s not a sign of weakness,” Jos Verstappen defends Max Verstappen’s radio ‘outbursts’


“It’s not a sign of weakness,” Jos Verstappen defends Max Verstappen’s radio ‘outbursts’

Jos Verstappen defends his son Max Verstappen's radio 'outbursts'

Max Verstappen has always been prone to outbursts on the radio to his team and has received lots of criticism for it. Recently, in Spain, he had been incredibly frustrated during one stage of the race. This was due to a DRS issue, which meant that the DRS flap only opened intermittently on the start/finish straight, and as a result, he was unable to overtake George Russell for a long time, which added to his frustrations.

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Max Verstappen would not have had to be stuck behind George Russell at all if he had not fallen victim to a gust of wind at the run to turn 4, which dropped him down to 4th place. With the gust of wind, the DRS issue, and being stuck behind someone you think you have more pace than, it is understandable that Verstappen could not have been very happy with what was going on. However, all ended well for the reigning world champion, who won his fourth race of the season.

During the race, Verstappen raged over the radio about the state of affairs.

“We can’t even make the f***ing DRS work, unbelievable!”

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After being told to open his DRS ‘after curbing’ and that he may have accidentally closed the DRS on the last lap, Verstappen shouted in frustration that: “Because I’m pressing it 50 f***ing times before it opens.” after which he was told to just press it once.

After the race, Christian Horner had told Sky Sports: “There was a little road rage going on at that point which is understandable because he must have hit the button 50 times on one straight. It is something we need to get on top of.”

Helmut Marko had also weighed in with his opinion on the ‘road rage’ to Motorsport, saying:

“You have to calm him down. I mean, we were surprised by this problem ourselves and you still have to make the best of it. When he didn’t press the button on the curb anymore, it worked properly. He’s just an emotional racer, that’s alright.”

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However, former Minardi F1 driver, Jos Verstappen, defended his son, saying that the ‘aggression’ is key to Verstappen’s driving style and success.

Also Read: “Normally a little more Lewis Hamilton,” Max Verstappen hilariously responds to Sergio Perez’s choice of the best driver

Jos: “[Verstappen] asks the utmost from the team”

Max Verstappen seeing the chequered flag at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP
Max Verstappen seeing the chequered flag at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP

In his recent column on Max Verstappen’s official website, Jos Verstappen came out in defense of his son, saying that there were a number of factors at play that made Verstappen lash out on the radio:

“It was extremely hot. That makes it difficult for a driver to manage his tires and then Max had problems with the DRS system that didn’t work.”

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“You could clearly hear the frustration in his voice. And I could also see it in the way he drove. Then he drives a bit more aggressively, he wants more. That style of driving has brought him a lot in the past.”

He praised Red Bull for their solution to the problem, and their quick thinking on a new strategy – which involved a second stint on the soft tires for Verstappen:

“I have to say that I think Red Bull solved it insanely well. They changed the strategy.”

Jos Verstappen pointed out that Red Bull and Verstappen push and demand the most from each other, which is why they are so successful.

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“I could understand his frustration at the start of the race. If things don’t go his way because of a problem, he’s the kind of guy who expresses his dissatisfaction. There is nothing wrong with that as far as I am concerned. He asks the utmost from the team, but that goes both ways. That’s why they are so successful together.”

He backed the team to find a solution to a recurrent DRS issue and other reliability problems that hamper Verstappen’s races.

“I think Red Bull has an idea where the problem with the DRS system comes from. It wasn’t really the first time. I trust they will find a solution. It’s still a mechanical sport, anything can happen.”

Jos gave out his predictions for this weekend’s event at Monaco, saying it will be ‘interesting’. He expected Ferrari to come back at Red Bull.

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“In Monaco I expect Ferrari to be strong as well. It will be a very interesting weekend again. In Barcelona, it also became clear that Mercedes has definitely made a big step forward. At the same time, the difference in the race compared to us was still four-tenths of a second. They still have some work to do there, but we are not sitting still either.”

Jos Verstappen competed in Formula 1 from 1994 to 2003, where he entered 107 races. He achieved 2 podium finishes and 17 career points.

In Monaco, Max Verstappen would hope to get his fifth win of the season and his fourth consecutive one (second consecutive victory at Monaco). He would also like to extend his lead at the top, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Also Read: Jos Verstappen’s tough Love is the secret behind Max Verstappen’s Success

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Also Read: “It’s a bit weird,” Max Verstappen sheds some light on the reliability issues for the new-gen cars