Max Verstappen has explained how he keeps his colleagues at Red Bull “on their toes” amidst the mutual demands within the team.
Max Verstappen has explained his pointed team radio exchanges during the Belgian Grand Prix are part of his approach to keeping Red Bull sharp, insisting he “demands the most and the best” from those around him.
The four-time F1 drivers’ champion qualified second and finished third at Spa-Francorchamps behind race winner Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc, a result that underlined an unexpectedly strong weekend for the RB22 in a season where Red Bull has largely trailed Mercedes and Ferrari, whilst fighting with McLaren.
During the 44-lap race in the Ardennes Forest, Verstappen was involved in a series of exchanges with race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.
At one point, Lambiase informed Verstappen that his front tyres were running cold and urged him to pick up the pace to generate temperature, only for Verstappen to push back, insisting that was not the core issue.
Separately, Verstappen referenced the engineers monitoring data on the pit wall, telling Lambiase he trusted the people looking at the laptops.
In the top-three press conference, Verstappen was asked how different his feelings in the cockpit are from what the data tells the team, and whether he is happy with their feedback during races.
He was quick to clarify that the various messages had been conflated.
“Well, all the things that you mentioned were not related to each other,” Verstappen told media, including RacingNews365. “The tyres were cold, and looking at the laptop was about other stuff.”
Verstappen, who sits seventh in the drivers’ standings on 91 points after 10 rounds, then offered a broader insight into his mentality when communicating with the pit wall.
“I just like to keep people on their toes,” the Dutchman added. “I know that everyone is doing their best, but we are not here for fun, so we have to keep being sharp at every time during the race.
“I demand the most and the best because that’s also what they expect from me.”