Max Verstappen leaves F1 pundit fuming with public Miami car gesture

F1 season preview as Max Verstappen looks to defend world title

F1 pundit Peter Windsor has criticised Max Verstappen’s celebration after the Miami Grand Prix last weekend. Windsor likened the double world champion’s reaction to his third win of the season to that of a ‘football star’.

Verstappen came from behind to win the race with a time of 1:27:38.241, 5.384 seconds ahead of Sergio Perez in second place and 26.305 seconds faster than Fernando Alonso in third. After a difficult qualification that saw the Dutchman place ninth overall, he carved his way through the pack to finish in pole position on race day in a victory that sees him extend his lead to 14 points in the drivers’ table.

And Verstappen was quick to remind his competitors who the world No1 is, pointing to the No1 on his car in victory. Windsor, a long-serving motorsports journalist, wasn’t impressed by Verstappen’s brash attitude and slammed his choice of celebration.

“What was he doing pointing at No.1 on his car? He is No.1 in the world. Isn’t that what his fans expect him to be doing? I personally don’t like any of that. You want my opinion; I don’t like it.

“I like drivers to be very reverential and all athletes copy all the football stars. To me it’s like, ‘I’m very lucky to be in a good car, good team. Hope I did a good job today, and I would like to a pay lot of compliments to my fellow competitors and be very humble about this.’ Jim Clark-esque.”

It appears the fans weren’t happy with Verstappen either as the 25-year-old took to the podium to a chorus of boos. Speaking about the race and his battle to lead the pack, Verstappen said: “It was a good race. I stayed out of trouble in the beginning. I had a good battle with Checo and we kept it clean and that was the most important thing. A great win today.

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“Yesterday was a setback in qualifying but today we kept it calm and clean and winning a race from ninth is always very satisfying.”

He later told Sky F1: “I always feel unbeatable. Sometimes other people also have a really good day. You try to be close to 100% or perfect all of the time. It’s a long season, I try be always as close as possible to perfect.”

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