"GP is the goat": Fans left in splits after heated exchange between Max Verstappen and his race engineer goes viral

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen and his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase recently had a heated argument after the former barely made it into the Q3 session during the 2023 F1 Belgian GP.

Since the track was initially damp and was quickly drying up, the drivers who were able to lap at the very end got the advantage of a drier track and were relatively faster. The Dutchman was one of the first drivers to clock his final lap time and ended up in P10.

Max Verstappen was not happy being so close to the drop zone of Q2 and lashed out at the plan to not push for another flying lap. He said:

“We should have just f****** pushed two laps in a row like I said... I don’t give a f*** if I’m through in P10. It was s*** execution."

However, his race engineer was not shy to reply back and stated how he would not have any battery energy left in the car for the second lap, even though it would have been a few seconds faster. Lambiase replied:

"OK, and then when the track was 2s quicker for your final lap and you didn't have any energy left, how would that have gone down? But you tell me what you want to do in Q3, and we'll do it. Sets, fuel, run plan."

The entire conversation between the Red Bull driver and race engineer was broadcast for millions to hear during the Belgian GP qualifying session. As a result, there were loads of reactions from various fans on social media platforms.

While some praised GP for being so sassy yet classy in his reply to Max Verstappen's rant, others pointed out how the duo sounded like a married couple arguing with each other.

Here are some of the reactions:

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Max Verstappen's thoughts on his quarrel with his race engineer

Though Max Verstappen had a heated discussion with his race engineer, he cooled off a bit after the qualifying session at the 2023 F1 Belgian GP.

When Sportskeeda asked about the radio message in the post-qualifying press conference, Verstappen laughed and said:

"I mean, that happens sometimes. Most of it is normally or always blocked off. But I think we are both… We can be quite vocal or emotional. But we always solve it afterwards. It's all good."

After Max Verstappen topped the charts at the end of the Q3 session, he came back on the radio and apologized for his rant to Gianpiero Lambiase.