Verstappen: “Frustrated” Vettel should “go back to school”

2016 Mexican Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen hit back at Sebastian Vettel following their clash during the Mexican Grand Prix, telling his rival to “go back to school”.

Verstappen was given a five-second penalty for cutting the track while defending his position from Vettel, who inherited Verstappen’s third place in the race. But Verstappen said he had done no more than the two Mercedes drivers had at the start.

2016 Mexican Grand Prix in pictures
“I think it’s pretty similar to what happened in lap one, corner one,” Verstappen told reporters after the race. “Lewis [Hamilton]” went off, he gained a massive advantage, and Nico [Rosberg] he also went off in turn one when we touched and he also gained an advantage.”

“And I didn’t even gain an advantage. I was still ahead under braking when I came back on the track I was the same length in front. It was ridiculous.”

Verstappen denied he had been told to hand his place to Vettel before the chequered flag. “No they thought I had to give it back but it was never confirmed,” he said. “I was not backing him up, I was just trying to do the best I can.”

Verstappen also accused Vettel of changing his line under braking, something the Red Bull driver has been accused of in recent races.

“I saw the footage already,” he said. “I think at least I can do it in a good way, he doesn’t know how to do it because it’s ridiculous what he did.”

“I mean Daniel was alongside him, he just turned into him, they touched.”

A furious Vettel then swore repeatedly at race director Charlie Whiting on the radio.

“And then he starts shouting on the radio,” Verstappen continued. “I don’t know how many times he’s using very bad language in general. I think he has to go back to school or something to get some language.”

“I will speak to him because this is just ridiculous the way he’s handling. I mean he’s always so frustrated the whole weekend he’s shouting on the radio. He’s just a very frustrated guy at the moment.”

2016 Mexican Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    115 comments on “Verstappen: “Frustrated” Vettel should “go back to school””

    1. “and Nico [Rosberg] he also went off in turn one when we touched and he also gained an advantage.””

      He went off because you sent hom off

      1. Him, not hom

        1. We got that. :-)

      2. Ahhh…yes. Maxey pad needs to be taught a lesson. Some of his moves are becoming quite preposterous, particularly at speed on a straight veering to block. It’s only a matter of time before he causes an accident he may not walk away from.

        1. And yet he hasnt..

          And the rules changed now, he does everything allowed in the rule book…

    2. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
      30th October 2016, 21:30

      Standard Versatappen shifting focus on his own indescretions onto other people’s. Look at what you have done wrong. It cracks me up that Red Bull are moaning about Rosberg when Verstappen smacked into him…

      1. I agree he wasn’t right to not give the place back to Vettel, and I agree Hamilton wasn’t right to take advantage of going off the track at the start. I also think the stewards did well in not penalizing Hamilton, considering the safety car. I also want Rosberg to win the championship.
        But on one thing I agree with Max: Vettel is frustrated and very hot headed recently and he handled the situation poorly. Max was wrong and he was penalized for it, but Vettel needs to calm down. Honestly, I think Max came out of this much better than Vettel did. So what, Max cut a corner and was penalized, that happens every grand prix to somebody. But swearing repeatedly on the radio and insulting the guy who is effectively the referee of the event? I don’t like that at all.

        I don’t think any less of Vettel for this though. He’s his own man and I’m sure he’s a great guy despite his flaws and he’s probably the best driver on the field right now. But Max is definitely not the bad guy in this situation, and he handled the situation impeccably, I feel.

        1. The Insults VET made aimed at Charlie Whiting are over the edge. Whiting should set an example and penalize this. It’s a disgrace for F1.

        2. Agree with all – except that I think Dan Ric is the best.

    3. Oh look, a hornet’s nest, let’s pee on it.

      Seriously, Ricciardo is the only one who comes out of this with some respect. Measured response from him and exposes the hypocrisy.

      1. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
        30th October 2016, 21:36

        Completely agree. Ricciardo with a very dignified response with quite a few good points.

        1. I would agree with you only if Ric was really along side Vet to begin with… he did a super stupid dive to sneak there all thanx to another stupid driver Ver who was doing best can to get Vet into Ric… He had to give the position back… It is the rules…

          If you are gonna bring up Ham’s move, well, if you watch it carefuly, if ham didnt do what he did, ver was gonna dive bomb, which he did many times before, and did it this time as well in case u watched it, he locked up massively, and ran ros wide and caused a collision as well…

          1. @mysticus
            If you are gonna bring up Ham’s move, well, if you watch it carefuly, if ham didnt do what he did, ver was gonna dive bomb, which he did many times before, and did it this time as well in case u watched it, he locked up massively, and ran ros wide and caused a collision as well… – so, what’s your connection to Ham?

      2. except for that impossible divebomb on vettel at the end. That was a big all or nothing and no way he could have made that stick. Still good race.

        1. Agree,he went dive bomb into 90 freaking degrees corner and he was NOT alongside and Vettel had every right to close the door like he did. As much as i like him sometimes i find his dive bombs a bit too much all or nothing moves.

          1. Yeah. All Red Bull drivers seem to have their signature problematic moves and that’s the one Ricciardo keeps doing as well. He also makes some moves like it’s bumper cars and not Formula 1, barging into people and whatnot occasionally. And this comes after Vettel vs Ricciardo in Spain too.

          2. A dive bomb? A dive bomb? Give me a break! Ric has his front wheel in line with Vettel’s rear wheel for 80m-100m before the corner – that is NOT a dive bomb!

            @dex022 Perhaps you should go read the regulations, because clearly you don’t know what you’re talking about. A car is deemed to be alongside if ANY part of their car is alongside the other. Considering Ric’s front wheels were in line with Vettel’s rear wheels – he was CLEARLY along side and Vettel had NO right to close the door. Let alone under braking – hence his 10 second penalty!

            1. Quite right. A “dive bomb”? Ric had a good run on Vet out of T2 and was well in a position to have a crack. Vet was too busy thinking of his next expletive to notice, then when he finally saw Ric, he did a Verstappen-style late block on him, forcing Ric onto the marbles where the only priority at that stage was survival. It took a lot of skill to pull that Redbull up with such little room, without damaging either of them. At that point he wasn’t thinking about overtaking. Seriously, a “dive bomb”? Hook line and sinker, Vettel’s move was exactly what the FIA were referring to in the previous weeks. I don’t like the nanny state over -policing of racing, but that late block patented by the little wonder boy is definitely a highly dangerous thing and probably should be regulated.

      3. Ricciardo is a gentleman and has given plenty of examples of being a gentleman in the past.
        Max is brash and arrogant and has given plenty of examples as well.
        Vettel is a cry-baby and has also given plenty of examples of being a cry-baby before.

        Nothing new here, to be honest.

        1. No – it’s a resumption of Vettel throwing the toys out of the pram in the same way he used to whenever Webber beat him.

    4. Max takes after his father.

    5. Love it! Nothing like a little drama at the end of a very boring race.

      1. This guy is what F1 needs. Just imagine how boring this race would have been if he wasn’t in it.

      2. +1
        “I think at least I can do it in a good way, he doesn’t know how to do it because it’s ridiculous what he did.”
        Don’t ever change, Max!

    6. This is just so much fun!!!

      What a kid though.

      About Seb: he whines a lot and is always very hot headed in the car. So are Fernando, Lewis, even Kimi, you name it. The problem is, with Vettel it sounds like a 12 year old…

      All fun after such a boring race.

    7. He says he didn’t gain an advantage then why didn’t he do it every lap? He knew he couldn’t change his line under braking and he decided instead of yielding to go outside to retain his track position. Pathetic I am embarrassed watching a sport with somebody like him taking part. Vettel should be ashamed for his remarks too, bad day for F1

      1. Then don’t watch it…go look Watch WEC.

    8. I completely agree with everything Max said.

      I like to think of myself as fairly impartial and am not a supporter of any particular driver, more the sport in general.

      A few points to make just to clarify where I agree with Max:
      1) Verstappen and Hamilton did exactly the same thing at Turn One and both failed to lose a place. Penalise both or neither.
      2) Vettel drove a brilliant race to get fourth (or rather, third), but needs to calm down on the radio. I’d like to see him get a penalty for the next race. In no other sport could you direct such an barrage of bad language at the man in charge and not be seriously reprimanded… in this case, it seems he has instead been rewarded.
      3) Vettel moved in the braking zone and caused contact with Ricciardo who otherwise would have completed a clean overtake. He has been outspoken against Red Bull cars doing this in the past, so by his own rules, should expect a penalty.

      I like Vettel, but he’s not done himself any favours today.

      1. 1) Its not the same, nobody was attacking Ham. Who do you give the place to then? What if ham did this when he had 10sec to Rosberg? should he have still given Ros the place. This differentiates the 2 incidents. Max was being attacked and had he braked earlier to make the corner Vet would have much better chance to try the overtake.

        1. The 21 guys behind Hamilton would probably dispute that nobody was attacking him… but I take your point.

        2. Ham was also attacked because he drove a defensive line. But Ham was not even under investigation.
          I .

        3. this is interesting, cause hamilton blocked and that is why he drove straight. The reason he blocked was to defend by braking way too late. I have no idea how to penalize it, but he was not driving around with a big gap on the person behind him, so in a way he was defending.

      2. “Vettel moved in the braking zone and caused contact with Ricciardo who otherwise would have completed a clean overtake.”

        You can’t be sure to be honest. Yes Ricciardo would have had the inside line for that corner but Vettel could have just as easily kept his car on the outside and he would have stayed in front because the next three corners are all right handers and in those there’s absolutely no grip off line.

        I agree with the rest though.

        1. Doesnt change the fact that Vettel moved under breaking which caused a collision. It doesnt matter ‘what could have happened’, it was Vettel moving under breaking which is exactly whats forbidden now. So basically it should have been Ricciardo on the podium.

      3. would have completed a clean overtake.

        That you cannot be serious about? In what world would Ricciardo be able to hold the inside line in a 90 degree corner at the speed he was still going at the time he locked up.

        1. Watch the footage, he might have made it if they hadnt touch which made him loose control. Also it doesnt matter what would have happened. What did happen is Vettel moving under braking which is forbidden now and because of that hitting Ricciardos front wheel. He should be punished for that

      4. Agree. And it’s true Vettel is extremely frustrated and the situation at Ferrari does not really help hem.

    9. This is what happens when talent goes to someone’s head. Typical teenager. Hopefully he learns or there have been plenty others one hit wonders like him.

    10. Once upon a time Young Yoda was trying to change the game and all of a sudden- the game just ate him.

    11. I do think Verstappen has a point with the inconsistency of the stewards. We are back to the age old “did he gain an advantage??”.

      He is certainly right about Vettel and moving over towards Ricciardo under braking.

    12. I love this! Two top drivers fighting it out with their two personalities and not like PR robots. Absolutely great! Wow, though, everyone of the top seven had some kind of incident, a bit silly.

      1. Yeah.. i find it pretty amusing as well. I don’t regard either of them as mature individuals, and they are at the top of their game in throwing toys out of the pram. I saw both the interviews after the race, and found it pretty amusing though –

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu6i2TLBm68
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpteqFMIG-0

        1. and vettel’s team radio of course… hahahaha

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM0r1gzUZZc

    13. How about a 5 second penalty for VET for unsportsmanlike like behaviour and a 5 second penalty for moving under braking when RIC attempted a pass.

    14. Verstappen is such a petulant child, he just completely missed the corner to keep the position and expects to get away with it? He is just like his father. And Vettel too.

      1. What has his father to do with this? It sounds like you have serious problems with your father?

        Stop this please.

      2. hamilton also completely missed the first corner. Is he a petulant child as well? Is he like Verstappen’s father as well?

        1. Hamilton was completely ahead of the rest of the field and nobody was challenging him into turn 1. He didn’t gain or lose anything with him cutting turn 1. Verstappen would have been passed by Vettel before the end of the race but just completely cut the corner which gave him a big advantage. Two different events.

          1. He gained a massive gap..

          2. spafrancorchamps
            30th October 2016, 22:14

            Hamilton was under attack by Rosberg. He gained 2 seconds by going off. That shouldn’t be allowed. Had he tried to still make the corner, he would have possibly lost his position. If you brake later than your opponent, you take a risk which can pay off if performed well. He braked too late, and it paid off even better.

            Now, I want Hamilton to win the title.. but let’s stay objective.

            1. The reason Hamilton gained time over Rosberg at the first corner (and wasn’t penalized) was because Rosberg also cut corner. Since they both cut the corner neither was penalized. Completely fair.

        1. Yeah never mind Nico cut the corner because he was whacked off the track by Max. Without that contact Nico would have been able to negotiate the corner properly. So to claim LH didn’t get a penalty because Nico cut the corner too, like they were exactly the same incidents, makes no sense.

          That said I can (sort of) understand LH not getting penalized, and if anyone should have been penalized in the first corner it should have been Max for whacking Nico. But I suppose this goes down to being forgiveness to such things because they happened at the start.

          The bottom line is there should have been more than just nice grass to run over at the outside of turn 1. There was no penalty for running wide in terms of the track itself punishing a driver for such an error. Had there been gravel for example, LH would have likely punished himself by going off, or he wouldn’t have taken such license by overcooking and locking up his brakes to begin with. But then we’ve seen this from LH before, including times when he himself has pushed Nico off, claiming ‘innocence by understeer’ on ‘cold tires’ in hopes that everyone forgets the fact that he creates his own understeer by overcooking it and not being in control of his car on said cold tires.

    15. And you, Max, are a very arrogant and cocky guy. Pride comes before a fall.

      1. Except he’s already a race winner in F1 and you and I go to our regular Job tomorrow and talk about him around the water cooler.

    16. This is what happens when kids are allowed to play with adults. Things get mixed up…and in the end, no one cares about fair play or rules. Everything starts to be game, about messing the rules, provoking other drivers, and always with the “he started first” strategy. In this stupid, stupid, childish incident, Max shoud be learned a lesson. And Ricciardo should think hard about his future in RBR with someone like Max as his partner. Because, when he have the chance, Max will turn the game on him.

      But, for today, justice was deserved.

      1. you mean Vettel right? otherwise..you dont make sense..

      2. Max was very composed and calculated through all this. It’s Vettel who is the crybaby..

        1. Ofc, Seb is a crybaby, Ham is a crybaby, Nico is a crybaby, Kim a crybaby…Perhaps F1 should pass on Baby Jam or some baby channel, because most of the atual F1 champions still racing are…crybabies. Oh, but Max no. However, wou can rest assure. When he wins an F1 title or when he loses all the hype around him, because of another kid on the block, he’ll probably be one.

      3. I really don’t understand what Max did wrong today apart from refusing to give a place back, something which has been done over and over again for years.

        1. Really? “apart from refusing to give a place back” says it all. He didn’t give the place, and in top that, he helped Ric pressure Seb in the end of the race. That’s not fair play, that’s lack of respect for other professional drivers who race along side of him. Max made a mistake. As a kid he is, he should learn a lesson from this. Fair play and respect is far more important than rules. And, because one day, it will happen to him, as it always does, he should rethink his attitude, as he is a very talented driver, and I’m sure he’ll have the oportunity to win one or several F1 champion titles.

          1. First of all, its his own choice if he gives the place to Vettel or not. Its not like the stewards were on his radio telling him to give the place to Vettel ASAP. So its his decision in that moment. He was ahead when and before they entered the corner so its not like he passed by going of track. Also with Hamilton and others missing corners and him seeing that, its not weird for him to think that he might have gotten away with it.
            Second: he didnt push him back into Ricciardo on purpose. Watch the lap times, both Vettel and Ricciardo were gaining on him alot the previous laps. So when he’s defending offcourse Ricciardo will gain alot of time on them. And its racing to defend like crazy and hope the car thats gaining will make it difficult on the car thats attacking. Its called tactics. And if its your teammate its even better. Is it gentleman like? No, but it is allowed and happened alot of times before in F1.
            Do I think he should have been penalised? Yeah. Should he shutup about it? Yes.
            But Vettels comments are in my opinion even worse. That guy has totally lost it. You can be frustrated and call Verstappen names but he went overboard also with naming charlie. And its not just this race, the frustration is very clear. Not a 4 times champion worthy.

            1. Also, Vettel moving under braking should have been penalised also. It messed up Ricciardos attack so Vettel also gained from that. Its not a matter of ‘would Ricciardo have made the corner”, its a matter of Vettel breaking the rules and gaining an advantage while its crystal clear now that moving under breaking is not allowed. He moved, he hit Ricciardo. Not the other way around.

        2. @paeschli There’s also the small matter of him whacking the Championship leader in turn 1, and contact is rarely good for either driver.

    17. Another Senna/Prost setting is growing

      Love it :) :) :)

      1. Only if they become teammates…. that’ll be interesting.

      2. Yes! I don’t know why so many fans liked to see boringly polite drivers. Great driver always calculatedly aggressive.

    18. Sorry Guy’s if you can’t take the “new” style off driving, don’t look to F1 anymore!

      All the bashing on Max is over the top. Since Max is driving, F1 has more supporters than the last 10 years. (Sorry for My bad English)

      1. spafrancorchamps
        30th October 2016, 22:17

        F1’s viewing figures have been dropping massively since 2008 and are still dropping. Where are you talking about?

        1. I highly doubt it’s still dropping, can you come with facts?

          1. spafrancorchamps
            31st October 2016, 11:39

            I certainley can:

    19. Looking at your avatar it says enough. Justice wasn’t served today. Max didn’t gain advantage by that move. Oh and about being a child. Vettel was the child today. So much anger and swearing and whining even when the move was under investigation and his team told him to cool down.

      1. @ Ricardo Ferreira

      2. I agree, disgraceful behaviour from Sebastian Vettel. Swearing and moaning at every opportunity, especially after squeezing Riccardo like that afterwards.

      3. My avatar says nothing…at all. Justice was served for sure. Otherwise, the decision would came off after the race, as it was planned to happen. So, if you really think about it, you realise that letting Max going to the podium was against F1 principles, and sport principles in general.
        I understand that people want action, etc. And that a kid against the veterans is desirable. But, he needs to respect some values. He’s a kid. He needs to learn. And he will.
        About the swearing, oh my, do you believe that is there one driver, only one, that doesn’t swear when is upset? Specialy, if he is racing? Don’t you swear playing pc or playstation? Give me a break.

        1. Yes I swear but I dont do it in the open. He named specific Verstappen and Charlie. That’s the point. Besides children are watching and thinking it’s normal.

        2. I do believe he is the one and only driver who slammed the Race Director like that. Are you kidding me?! You can’t be serious comparing playing PlayStation and telling Charlie (no less) to **** off on a radio channel accessible to race control (and subsequently aired to literally millions of people around the world).

          I think VES did wrong with his actions, and he was dully punished. But I also think VET should have gotten a race ban for this behavior. Actually, I can’t think of a sport where things like that would just go unpunished.

          1. The point is, competition is emotional. If your saying you’d never ever do such a thing during world class competition, you really don’t know that. Talk is cheap.

            Chances are, if you’ve done it playing Playstation, under the right circumstances you just might tell C. Whiting to eff off. It makes me wonder if some of the people watching have ever competed at all.

            I’m not making excuses for any of them. Having competed for 4 championships when younger, understand where it can come from no matter how stupid it is. Our championship venue was magically changed to a “neutral” site a week before the final game, do you think some of our team didn’t tell the organisation to eff off, when they saw them? It was the talk of the league for the week. Yes we still won 1-0. Great defense on both teams parts.

            Contrary to popular belief and wantings, they’re human, on a world stage, not robots. So now we have Vettel not towing the line for good reason in his mind and it’s completely not understandable?

            Just like it’s easy for fans to spend Real Madrid or Chelseas money on players fans want, it’s easy for fans to lip off and say they wouldn’t mouth off in Vettels situation. Is it disgraceful? Of course it is. Doesn’t mean you wouldn’t do it in his shoes.

        3. Arnoud van Houwelingen
          31st October 2016, 16:29

          but what did he actually done wrong. He didn’t get the call from FIA during the race to give the place back. He saw what happened to Hamilton and decided it was best to defend his position and wait after the race if he was getting a penalty. It is pretty funny that Verstappen gets the hate while Vettel is moving in the breaking zone and everybody was saying shame on you Verstappen but nobody is saying anything about it to Vettel. And btw Max made the move in front of Hamilton (Suzuka) while Vettel did it when Ric was alongside him which is way worse in my opinion

    20. If Verstappen had given the place back immediately, he would have ended up 4th and Ricciardo would have been 5th. By sticking it out to the end of the race, Max has cost himself a place and some points?

      1. Nope, Riccardo would have overtaken him. Holding Vettel up gave Riccardo a chance at third.

    21. I think the penalty for Verstappen was the right call. In his defense: the team told him we THINK you might have to give the place to vettel. It was not confirmed by the team. So he was right not to give the place until it was confirmed. Remember Hamilton and “Lie gate”.

      second: Please bring back the gravel and nobody will cut corner anymore.

      1. Yep, stupid corner…

      2. This is why I think track limits should be strictly enforced. Ideally, no wheels should ever be over any white lines. That’s not realistic I get that. It should be more strict on every corner. Why have a track if they’re just going to let guys cut whatever parts they want? I’m also for track limits regardless of gaining or not gaining an advantage. The track is the track, period.

    22. People of Verstappen’s age range tend to think they are invincible and invulnerable. This is normal. That is why 19 year olds- even ones as good as Verstappen shouldn’t be in a top-flight series- much less the top level of international open-wheel car racing.

      1. Yeah and moaning people should retire as well. What a nonsense argument..

    23. I hope when Kimi retires Ferrari will get back to its winning way and have Seb and Max as drivers.

      That’s going to be a rivalry to watch!

    24. Post race, Vettel himself was quite charitable of Verstappen in general, though obviously not the move in particular: https://twitter.com/F1/status/792855123135336448

    25. I agree with Ricciardo that Hamilton should have had a penalty as he cut across the grass, and there was no other car involved. However I disagree that Vettel should have P3 taken from him. He was pushed back into Ricciardo by Verstappen, who had been clearly told by his team to give the space back to Vettel as he went over the grass. As for Rosberg, he also doesn’t deserve a penalty, as Verstappen pushed him off the track. Such good raving though!

    26. The Red Bull twitter account likened the two on one between Verstappen, Vettel and Ricciardo to a game of ping pong.

    27. You can do it in a good way Max?! Like to Kimi at Spa?

      Seriously, it’s never his fault. Always everyone is out to get him. He thinks himself the best thing since sliced bread. He can do whatever he likes, drives like it’s a Playstation tournament, he owns the racetrack basically , like a kid who takes the ball and is off when he’s not winning and he’s telling Vettel to go back to school? Should wipe the milk off the lips first, please Max

      I’ll repeat what I said many times before: Verstappen is the new Maldonado, just with a lot more talent. And nothing will teach him a lesson in humility, except the inevitable huge crash that’s gonna happen sooner or later(hopefully this menacing inevitability will not end up being fatal to anyone). This 5sec penalty certainly doesn’t. He’s now walking all indignant, talking to journos like he’s the victim in all this. What a brat…

      1. To be fair, the Spa incident on the Kemmel straight wasn’t under breaking at all, so thats not a good comparison.

      2. @montreal95 repeating what you said at the time doesn’t make it any more true, just makes you look more blind.

        1. @hahostolze What a brilliant response. I thank you for your valuable contribution,genius!

    28. Watching verstappen see himself put to fifth and have to leave the winners rooms was my moment of the year! Hahahaha!!!

      1. @Markm
        X2, it was obvious he didnt deserve to be there….

        Nice try redbull!

    29. Verstappen being the bigger man. Reverse psycology?

    30. Verst. really wanted to block Vettel in a same way he used to do before, but then suddenly he realized that it will be too obvious and may not go well under new rules so he lost time thinking about all that and lost breaking point completely…

    31. RIC Should be on the podium today. 5 sec to HAM, VET and VES. If you ask me. And if you talk about mature behaviors. Man! With helmets on VET is the 19 year old child instead of VES. Emotions don’t rule the written rules. Today the one with the biggest mouth has won. And that is very bad.

    32. Go home Max; this is a sport; it is played between sportsmen; you don’t deserve to be among them!
      Huuuuuuuuuuuoooooooooooo!!!!

    33. In all my years watching F1 I never saw a driver that kept his place by going outside of the track and not imediately gave back his position. It’s something very basic.

    34. This is all getting very ugly. But man oh man is it fun to watch.

      I see that Verstappen is infuriating a lot of people with his driving, and angering more with his comments. But he’ll become a more mature, measured, and PR savvy driver with experience. So let’s enjoy the wild, uncensored version of Max Verstappen while he’s still around. We’ll miss him when he’s gone…

    35. Race after race we are seeing dangerous manoeuvres from Max Verstappen. He locked wheels with Rosberg at the start and that could have altered the championship dramatically. At this stage of the championship, its best to only make calculated moves when it comes to battle for track position with championship leaders, especially when the driver concerned is not involved in the championship battle. In the later stages of the race he backs Vettel onto Ricciardo after failing to make a corner. It was clearly suggested by his team on the radio that he should consider giving back the position to Vettel, which again he disregarded. Max Verstappen is arrogant…while that is not something unseen in the sport…he couples that with racing dangerously, knowing that he will get away lightly with his infractions.

      1. @pinakghosh I support Nico and was sure concerned when Max whacked him, but I wasn’t furious or anything, and Max was even asked before Sunday if he and DR had any discussions with the team (I’m paraphrasing) about not interfering with the two Championship contenders and he said no he would be going for the win as usual. I was madder at Brundle for immediately calling on Nico to get a penalty for corner-cutting when LH seemed fine to do so, until he saw a little later (he needed the replay) what we all saw happen, which was Nico getting whacked, and then he changed his tune.

        Also in defence of Max he was waiting to be told officially whether or not he had to give a spot back. I also don’t think he goes around assuming he can do whatever he wants and will get off lightly. We have seen him reprimanded before, he has had meetings with Whiting, and now he lost his third on the podium. I think his youthful exuberance is being kept in check as we speak.

    36. The reason I continue to find it hard to respect Verstappen’s talent is because he never shows any sense of sportsmanship.

      1. I don’t know about that. Wasn’t it just a race or two ago he and DR had a good on-track battle and they both kept it clean and then were having a chuckle together about it after the race?

        1. On NBC coverage it was reported, Max stated had it not been DR, he wouldn’t have raced someone else that way.

    37. Vettel and Verstappen are entitled brats, the hype around max doesn’t really help the bloated ego of vettel, who wants to put the kid in his place and max doing whatever he wants to do. In the end Ricciardo takes the cake which is a fitting end.

    38. Verstappen is shacking up the quiet pond where all the ducks are recreating like idle zombies… It scares those idle zombies that suddenly an racing genious like Max enters the pond. He races by the rules and with the more guts and talent then any other F1 driver at the moment. And in scare and frustration for Max his talent, Some F1 drivers and the F1 arbitrage and passed due date nikki lauda try to get that exciting new driver, who has more talent than all the other drivers combined, out of their once oh so quiet little pond where nothing happend and everyone was settled with Mercedes first because everone would get their money anyway….

      Grow up! Grow some balls and race by the rules and to the limit like Max does. Max is now F1 and the rest is extra.

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