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Max Verstappen suffered reliability issues in two of the first five races of the 2022 F1 season, where he was forced to retire. He then significantly struggled with his DRS last weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he did not shy away from sharing his frustrations with the team over the radio.
F1 pundit Martin Brundle admitted that his anger over the radio reminded him of his frustrations during the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last season, emphasizing that his temperament has not changed much since then.
As reported by RacingNews365, Brundle said:
“[Max] Verstappen’s 24th win was not his best, mainly due to a failing DRS, a trip through the gravel, and team-mate Sergio Perez letting him pass twice. Max was clearly angry with his team when the DRS wouldn’t work, so he couldn’t pass [George] Russell in the Mercedes. This tells us two things. He’s had enough of the series of reliability issues now that his team has had time to dot the i’s and cross the t’s and give the new car more speed and less weight. Secondly, his temperament still has a relatively short fuse, as we see for example saw in the brake test he did with [Lewis] Hamilton in Saudi Arabia last year.”
Brundle then went on to add, stating:
“The wheel-to-wheel fight with Russell, who defended firmly but fair, was fascinating. Max was again very neat and fair in the long fight. More than when he took on Hamilton last year, which is more befitting of a champion. But the championship is of course not up for grabs yet.”
Earlier at the Spanish GP, Max Verstappen was heard frustratedly yelling at the team on the radio during his fight with George Russell, saying:
“We can’t even make DRS work, really unbelievable!”
The Dutchman has often been criticized for being overly aggressive on the track. This season, however, there seems to have been quite a shift in the nature of his rivalry against Charles Leclerc as compared to that with Lewis Hamilton last season.
Christian Horner admits Red Bull must "get on top of" Max Verstappen's "road rage"
Post the Spanish Grand Prix, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner admitted that Max Verstappen's "road rage" is something that the team certainly needs to work on.
Horner told SkySports:
“There was a little road rage going on at that point which is understandable because he must have hit the button 50 times on one straight. It is something we need to get on top of.”
Despite problems with the DRS, Verstappen managed to secure his third race win last weekend in Barcelona, taking the lead in the championship standings for the first time this season.
