Verstappen's biggest rants including calling Hamilton a 'stupid idiot'
Calling Lewis Hamilton a ‘stupid idiot’, his Red Bull car’s engine a ‘f***ing joke… and even PUSHING Esteban Ocon in rage after being denied a win – Max Verstappen’s biggest outbursts following radio rants on his way to Saudi Arabian Grand Prix victory
- Max Verstappen was left enraged at Charles Leclerc during Saudi Arabian GP
- Dutchman complained over Ferrari rival crossing a pit-lane entry line in Jeddah
- It follows on from their battle at the Bahrain GP that left Verstappen furious
- But it’s just the latest in a long line of complaints from the world champion
You don’t get to the top without having some sort of ruthless streak and Formula One world champion Max Verstappen has pulled no punches in that regard over the years.
The Dutchman won his first world title after seeing off seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton last term via six seasons in the sport where he appears to have verbally abused much of his rivals, his engine and even stewards on his way to achieving a lifelong dream.
Of course, Verstappen isn’t unique in this regard. You hardly go a race weekend without a driver somewhere on the grid letting out some sort of frustration and that includes some of the sport’s greatest drivers including other active world champions Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.
Yet, Verstappen’s frustrations over his rival Charles Leclerc’s driving including him supposedly breaching regulations during the Red Bull star’s win at Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix even led to his own team telling him to ‘keep your head down’.
With that in mind, Sportsmail looks at other hot-headed outbursts from the Dutchman over the course of his Formula One career.
Max Verstappen overcame a stubborn resistance from Charles Leclerc to win in Saudi Arabia
The Dutchman had been unhappy with the Ferrari star breaching regulations during the race
You only have to go back to the previous Formula One race for Verstappen’s last outburst at the season opening grand prix in Bahrain.
It was a miserable race for the start of the world champion’s title defence, and he soon got frustrated with his team’s conservative call for him not to push his tyres in his battle to pass Leclerc during two pit-stop phases.
After a second failure to clear the Ferrari driver, he shouted down his team radio: ‘OK this is now two times that I take it easy on the out-lap, that I could have been in front. ‘I am never, ever doing it again!’
Twelve laps later, Verstappen grew more frustrated when his steering malfunctioned, leading to an expletive blast at his team after they asked him if he needed to pit.
‘No, just f****** tell me what’s wrong and I’ll try to handle it’ Verstappen said.
The Dutchman’s fury ramped up further when he was told his supposed faltering battery was fine five laps from the end, hitting back with ‘No, it’s not! What the f*** is this?’ before he was forced to eventually retire with a fuel pump failure.
Verstappen was left furious at his Red Bull team as he struggled to pass Leclerc in Bahrain
Abu Dhabi 2021 – Safety car rant
Maybe not his biggest rant, but Verstappen’s unhappiness was clear to hear over the radio when he could see his world championship slipping away at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
After Nicholas Latifi’s crash brought out the now infamous late safety car, it appeared there would be a chance for Verstappen to attack Lewis Hamilton late in the race and seek an overtake that would secure him the title upon a restart.
But as the laps ran down towards the end, it was announced that lapped cars behind the safety car and between Hamilton and Verstappen would not be allowed to overtake upon a restart on the final lap – effectively allowing Hamilton a procession lap on his way to the championship.
Verstappen voiced his frustration over the call: ‘Yeah, of course, typical decision.’ before race director Michael Masi dramatically reversed his call to allow only the lapped cars to overtake leaving a one-lap head-to-head fight between the title contenders. The rest is history…
Lewis Hamilton had a buffer of five lapped cars behind him in his battle with Verstappen, before they were controversially allowed through in last season’s Abu Dhabi finale
United States 2021 – Enraged by Hamilton in practice
Verstappen doesn’t even need a race to show anger, with Hamilton playing mind games with him at the United States Grand Prix last season.
As the Mercedes star forced his way past Verstappen during a practice session, the Dutchman with disdain used his team radio to call him a ‘stupid idiot’ while also raising a middle finger at him in the process.
Hamilton responded when informed of Verstappen’s actions later on by saying: ‘I think at the core of everything has to be respect. For me, I try to just remain positive and keep calm and again be respectful to the drivers I’m fighting, regardless. If I have a name in my head of what I think they are, I don’t share that.’
Verstappen called Hamilton a ‘stupid idiot’ after being overtaken during a practice session
Brazil 2018 – Pushing Ocon after on-track collision
Verstappen was cruising to victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2018, before he was put into a spin by Racing Point driver Esteban Ocon who was clumsily trying to unlap himself heading into turn two at Interlagos.
Ocon was handed a 10-second stop-go penalty for the incident, but it cost Verstappen victory with Hamilton going on to win instead.
While on his cool down lap, Verstappen was seething over the radio sharing his intentions to seek out the Frenchman: ‘I hope I can’t find him now in the paddock because that guy has a f****** problem.’
He wasn’t joking either. As the drivers queued to be weighed post-race, Verstappen confronted Ocon before pushing him three times in front of other stunned drivers before officials pulled Ocon away from the Dutchman.
The FIA unsurprisingly didn’t take kindly to Verstappen’s conduct and race stewards punished him post-race for making ‘deliberate physical contact’ leading him to have to carry out two days public service for the governing body as punishment.
Esteban Ocon clumsily dived down the inside of Verstappen to try and unlap himself in Brazil
Costing Verstappen the win, the Dutchman pushed Ocon three times after the race
Hungary 2018 – Early retirement woes
The 2018 season would prove to be a highly frustrating one for Red Bull who were plagued by reliability problems linked with their power unit.
During the year, Verstappen failed to finish a race four times – the fourth of those coming in Hungary when his engine expired after just six laps.
The Dutchman was running in fifth place behind the Mercedes and Ferrari cars when he announced he had ‘no power’ coming out of turn one at the Hungaroring.
After being told to pull up an incredulous Verstappen said: ‘Mate, really? Can I not just keep going? I don’t care if this f****** engine blows up. What a f****** joke. All the f****** time. This is s***, honestly.’
While Verstappen did not retire for the rest of the season, it was little surprise to see Red Bull ditch their Renault supplied engines for Honda.
Verstappen was forced into a retirement just six laps into the 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix
The Dutchman was left seething after suffering his fourth car failure of the season
United States 2017 – Denied last-lap podium
It was a typical aggressive drive from Verstappen who had put in a supreme performance to charge from 16th on the grid to finish third on the road after forcing his way past Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen on the final lap.
Job well done for the Dutchman who then went to the green room with race winner Lewis Hamilton and second place driver Sebastian Vettel waiting to step onto the podium.
However stewards had deemed his pass over Raikkonen to have taken place off the circuit, handing him a time penalty and dropping back to fourth as a result.
Even though it looked to be the correct call, it wasn’t one Verstappen took lightly: ‘We had a really great race, but with those stupid decisions you really kill the sport,’ Verstappen said.
‘It’s one idiot steward up there which always makes decisions against me. At the end of the day everybody is running wide everywhere, there are no track limits.
‘At Turn 9 you can run wide, at Turn 19 you can go off the track and nobody will say anything.
‘It’s the same with [Valtteri] Bottas – I went for a move, and he continued outside the track; he came back, I really had to pass him, and nothing has been done against that while he definitely gained advantage.
‘It’s not good for the sport – they have to be really clear on the rules that it’s not allowed.’ ‘It’s not good for the crowd. I really hope next year nobody is coming, because like this the sport doesn’t make sense.’
Verstappen thought he had clinched a stunning third place at the United States GP in 2017
Malaysia 2016 – Calling Vettel ‘crazy’
Sometimes Verstappen doesn’t even have to be directly involved before attacking other drivers.
The Dutchman had the front row seat as he watched an opening lap crash at the first corner of the race in Sepang that saw Sebastian Vettel recklessly crash into title challenger Nico Rosberg, sending the German near to the back of the pack.
Bluntly, Verstappen proclaimed over his team radio that: ‘Sebastian is crazy, crashed into Rosberg like an idiot,’ before later adding: ‘he wants to win the race in the first corner which is ridiculous.’
Admittedly, Verstappen had taken a few verbal barbs earlier on in the season from Vettel, and the then Ferrari star hinted that Verstappen’s race conduct had led to the crash.
‘Racing (Verstappen), he’s moving around, I think everybody knows by now,’ Vettel said. ‘Obviously you’re squeezed to the inside, your angle doesn’t get any better for turn one.’
Sebastian Vettel (centre) crashes into Nico Rosberg as Verstappen looks on close by
Australia 2016 – Tirade at Toro Rosso
Just one year into his Formula One career and already Verstappen was getting his elbows out.
The then 18-year-old was driving for the unfancied Toro Rosso team when at the Australian Grand Prix he qualified a stunning fifth place.
After maintaining his position at the start of the race his afternoon soon unravelled when a botched pit-stop led to him falling down the order.
‘I was telling you I had a problem with the tyres, I wanted to pit first,’ he said on the team radio before muttering a number of expletives.
To compound his misery he then got stuck behind team-mate Carlos Sainz, being denied a team order request to be let through before spinning after contact with the Spaniard’s car.
Verstappen called his team’s strategy a ‘joke’ before ending the day in 10th position.
Verstappen endured a frustrating 2016 Australian GP stuck behind team-mate Carlos Sainz
P.S And he has previous with Leclerc from karting days
This season isn’t the first time Verstappen has been left frustrated with Leclerc’s driving.
Back in 2012 the old rivals had been competing in a karting event, with Verstappen, being led away by his father and ex-F1 racer Jos Verstappen, brandishing the current Ferrari star’s driving as ‘unfair. Leclerc was rather measured in his response saying ‘nothing happened – it was just an incident’.
It promises plenty more fireworks to come in the future if the start of the 2022 season is anything to go by.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=L42H4vkbHYc%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1
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