Max Verstappen urges critics to ‘turn his radio off’ as F1 intervenes

Max Verstappen has said he has no intentions of changing his approach on team radio, as F1 seeks to reduce the amount of swearing.

Verstappen’s radio usage at last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, in which the Dutch driver displayed his frustrations with several angry team radio messages, has prompted F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali to remind teams to try keeping radio communications clean.

Max Verstappen: Don’t listen in

During the Hungarian GP, as his race slowly crumbled as Red Bull‘s strategy saw him undercut by Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc before a late race clash with Hamilton, Verstappen issued several angry radio messages back to his team.

“No mate, don’t give me that s***,” was just one of his messages back to race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. “You guys gave me this s*** strategy, okay? I’m trying to rescue what’s left. F***!”

The 26-year-old even had a few choice words for his critics after the Grand Prix, saying they could “f*** off”.

But the reigning World Champion says he has no intentions of changing his approach to dealing with his team over the radio, and says he’ll continue to call out what he sees as anything less than excellence.

“You know, people that don’t like my language – then don’t listen in, turn the volume down,” he told media, including PlanetF1.com, ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.

“I’m very driven to success, I think I’ve proven that already and I always want to optimise stuff.

“Now, people can argue that you might not be so vocal on the radio, but that’s their opinion.

“My opinion is that it needs to be said at the time, to maybe also try and force that the second pit stop could have been a bit different. That’s how it goes, we are very open-minded, and we are very critical with each other as a team. And that’s been working for us very well, so I don’t expect that to change.

“That’s our approach, I think it’s important that you can be critical because, in this world that we’re living now, I feel that a lot of people can’t take criticism anymore like it used to be. And I don’t want to end up like that.”

More on the latest Max Verstappen Red Bull F1 news

? Petulant, emotional, and brilliant: We need to talk about ‘Mad Max’ Verstappen

? The many milestones Max Verstappen can reach in F1 2024 season

Stefano Domenicali urges reduction in offensive language

Verstappen’s comments were made on the same day that it was revealed F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali urged the teams to try keeping radio messages in check as they are broadcast to an international audience.

At the F1 Commission meeting in London early this week, Domenicali is reported as “reminding teams that it is important to be mindful of the fact that communication is broadcast live during races, and despite Formula 1 filtering what is eventually heard, a significant number of new fans to the sport are young and, more widely, the language could be considered offensive.”

Domenicali is said to have highlighted that “drivers are role models and should behave accordingly”.

Verstappen was asked whether he believes radio messages should be broadcast at all, with F1 being in a somewhat unique scenario in which the competitors can be heard communicating in real-time with their teams.

“Well, that’s also a thing that, in other sports, people say things but they don’t have a mic attached to their mouths,” Verstappen said.

“For the broadcasting of course, yeah, you can argue, but I don’t care. I mean, I say what I want.

“But yeah, that’s our sport as well, naturally, because you’re communicating a lot with the pitwall and of course, the opportunity to talk.

“When other sports, maybe you swear yourself about stuff that you didn’t like a teammate didn’t pass you the ball, you call them whatever it is, but there is no mic.

“It’s just how our sport is, I guess.”

Read Next: Lewis Hamilton issues response to Lando Norris’ cooldown room comments