“I gave a lot of lap time away in that first stint”: Verstappen’s full Chinese GP radio

After coming within a second of victory in Melbourne, Max Verstappen had a disappointing Chinese Grand Prix, finishing 16 seconds off the winner in fourth place.

Red Bull were clearly less competitive around the freshly resurfaced Shanghai International Circuit. However, as Verstappen noted during the race, there were times he gave away more ground than he needed to, particularly in the first stint as he tried to protect the medium tyres which degraded so badly in the sprint race.

In fact, Verstappen incurred most of his eventual deficit to race winner Oscar Piastri during that time. On the hard rubber later in the race, as the track cooled, the RB21 was a match for the MCL39 at times.

Verstappen faced the added setback of having to get past the Ferraris, which passed him at the start of the race. Lewis Hamilton’s second pit stop took him out of the equation but Verstappen lost time passing Charles Leclerc.

Without that he could have been closer to George Russell in the final podium place and even Lando Norris when his brake problem struck. His radio messages reveal how the team realised he had more pace in the car as the race went on – in stark contrast to his struggling team mate.

Max Verstappen’s Chinese Grand Prix radio

Stint 1: Medium
Stint 2: Hard
Finish

Stint 1: Medium

Neither Red Bull driver was at all happy with their car’s balance on the medium compound. Verstappen lost most of his time to the leader at this stage and he clearly wasn’t happy with its balance on the front and rear axle.

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Lap: 1/56 VER: 1’42.249
Lambiase	No change to procedure, Max.
Lambiase	Last car, approach it back of the grid, Max.
Verstappen	Yeah Charles has a broken front wing.
Lambiase	Mode six, strat five, mode six, strat five.
Lap: 2/56 VER: 1’38.304
Lambiase	DRS enabled.
Lambiase	0.8 ahead, 0.8 behind, display eight.
Lap: 3/56 VER: 1’38.302
Lambiase	Think about turn one with DRS.
Lambiase	0.9 ahead, 0.9 behind. Gap behind, 1.1
Lap: 5/56 VER: 1’38.895
Lambiase	Cars ahead, less management, seven-eight, just information. Also turn one.
Lap: 9/56 VER: 1’39.229
Lambiase	Can I have an update please?
Verstappen	Well, no matter how slow I drive, I keep sliding on the rubber. There’s no entry and exit stability on the rear. Yeah, makes it very difficult.
Lambiase	So, front flap for the next set then please Max.
Verstappen	We’ve got a little bit. Ah, the upshifts are very bad.
Lap: 10/56 VER: 1’39.064
Lambiase	So, diff nine, mid nine, keep tracking it Max, that’s the issue. Or diff 10.
Lap: 12/56 VER: 1’38.627
Lambiase	So Max reduce management for the moment, please, reduce any management.
Lap: 13/56 VER: 1’42.610
Lambiase	Everything you’ve got, please, Max.
Verstappen	Sorry repeat?
Lambiase	Everything you’ve got.
Lambiase	Box and pit confirm Max. Box, pit confirm.
Lambiase	Strat 12 in pit lane.

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Stint 2: Hard

No team had run the hard tyre prior to Sunday’s race. However Red Bull was one of the three teams which started one of their cars on the harder rubber.

That meant Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase could pass on the team’s direct observations about the rubber’s performance. As the stint unfolded they became more optimistic about the tyre’s performance, and most drivers on the same strategy soon concluded they could finish the race without making another pit stop.

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Lap: 14/56 VER: 1’55.252
Lambiase	White line on the exit, racing Tsunoda and Antonelli. White line on the exit.
Lambiase	Okay, you’re clear.
Verstappen	I gave a lot of lap time away in that first stint.
Lambiase	Yes, we saw that, Max.
Verstappen	How is the hard tyre holding up?
Lap: 15/56 VER: 1’37.322
Lambiase	Pretty good on the front.
Lambiase	Still no issues on Liam’s tyre to this point.
Verstappen	It’s a normal kind of management?
Lambiase	Yes, please. Let’s not over-protect.
Lambiase	So Leclerc in pit lane, he’ll come out ahead of you.
Lap: 17/56 VER: 1’37.369
Lambiase	Reminder, turn one on DRS.
Lap: 18/56 VER: 1’37.847
Verstappen	I have a bit of front locking in the last corner, I don’t know how to solve that.
Lambiase	Stand by. Confirm turn 16?
Verstappen	Yeah. I went to minus one B-bal five.
Lambiase	Gap 0.6. No further changes for turn 16.
Lambiase	0.6.
Lambiase	All cars ahead, same pace, Max, other than Leclerc. Leclerc 37.1.
Lap: 22/56 VER: 1’37.543
Lambiase	Piastri 37.7.
Lap: 23/56 VER: 1’37.442
Lambiase	Engine 13. Engine one-three position 10. Position one zero. Leclerc not saving, turn one. Leader’s pace 37.3.
Lap: 24/56 VER: 1’37.250
Lambiase	Generally starting to reduce levels of management, Max.
Lambiase	36.9 ahead.
Lambiase	Strat nine, please, strat nine.
Lap: 28/56 VER: 1’37.318
Lambiase	We’d like to assess torque six at mid five, please. Torque six, mid five.
Lambiase	Thank you.
Lambiase	Hamilton, 37.5 ahead.
Lap: 31/56 VER: 1’37.084
Lambiase	Max, front flap for the next stint please.
Lap: 33/56 VER: 1’37.100
Verstappen	Yeah, that’s okay. I think that’s okay, yeah.

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By the second half of the race the track conditions had changed significantly. The cloud cover which began to form as the race started had continued to gather and the shade and brought the asphalt temperature down by almost 10C.

Most drivers increased their pace at this point, but Verstappen’s Red Bull especially seemed to like the conditions. His quickest lap was just three-hundredths of a second off the best time of the race, set by Norris.

He was quick enough to close within DRS range of Leclerc and pull off a well-worked pass on the Ferrari through the opening corners which earned a few words of praise from Lambiase.

Lap: 36/56 VER: 1’36.646
Lambiase	Good pace now Max, better late than never. 20 laps remaining, come on.
Lambiase	Leclerc 36.9. It’s good pace, Max, keep it up.
Lap: 39/56 VER: 1’36.457
Lambiase	So Leclerc 36.7.
Lap: 40/56 VER: 1’36.440
Lambiase	Max, can we just introduce a very small amount of lift-off into 14 and six please? This is top pace now Max, keep going.
Lap: 41/56 VER: 1’36.137
Lambiase	Keep it up, Max, obviously everybody’s trying to hang it out now, don’t know what can happen at the end.
Lap: 43/56 VER: 1’36.242
Lambiase	Max, for a Safety Car restart, medium or hard?
Verstappen	I guess the hard is more robust.
Lambiase	Understood.
Verstappen	How many laps are left?
Lap: 44/56 VER: 1’36.221
Lambiase	13, including this one.
Lambiase	Fastest car in the top five at the moment.
Lap: 45/56 VER: 1’36.182
Lambiase	Max, just keep up that small amount of lift-off into six and 14.
Lambiase	Tyre temps are healthy, so no concern there.
Lambiase	Display three position nine if downshifts are an issue or becoming an issue, Max.
Lap: 46/56 VER: 1’36.188
Lambiase	Blue flags ahead.
Lambiase	Leclerc 36.5.
Lap: 48/56 VER: 1’36.023
Lambiase	Gap down to two seconds, Max.
Lap: 49/56 VER: 1’35.898
Lambiase	Six laps remaining.
Lap: 51/56 VER: 1’35.710
Lambiase	0.9. Just reminder turn one, Max.
Lambiase	0.4. Verstappen passes Leclerc at turn three
Lap: 53/56 VER: 1’36.175
Lambiase	Clear to use DRS, have a strong braking point into turn 11.
Lambiase	Does not have DRS, Max. Lovely stuff.
Lambiase	Three laps remaining.
Lambiase	Two laps remaining, Max, keep pushing to the end. Possible brake issue on Norris’s car.

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Finish

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner joined in the post-race discussions on Verstappen’s radio. He did not do the same after Lawson took the chequered flag in 16th.

There were times last year when Verstappen’s dissatisfaction with his car’s performance provoked a string of angry messages throughout the race. That wasn’t the case in Shanghai, and he even sounded optimistic about their performance as he prepared to climb out of his car.

Lap: 54/56 VER: 1’35.780
Lambiase	Okay, final lap.
Lap: 56/56 VER: 1’35.488
Lambiase	Good job Max. We will, yeah, lots to learn there. We’ll look at that. But you drove very, very well. Well done.
Verstappen	Yeah, I think the end was not too bad, the beginning was quite tough. But that was good. Bit of fun racing too at the end.
Chequered flag
Horner	Yeah, well done mate. Important points today, they all add up at the end of the year. Your pace on the hard tyre, particularly the second half of the stint, was every bit as good as the cars ahead, so plenty of lessons to take out of this.
Verstappen	Yeah, yeah, for sure. Let’s analyse everything. I think those last few laps were a lot more competitive, that’s for sure.
Lambiase	And some pick-up on the way in as well, please, Max, where you can.

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix

• Red Bull reassure Verstappen over ‘when we’ll have a winning car again’ in meeting
• Mercedes explain impact of Antonelli’s floor damage on his Chinese GP performance
• “I gave a lot of lap time away in that first stint”: Verstappen’s full Chinese GP radio
• Stats: Chinese Grand Prix saw most disqualifications in an F1 race for 21 years
• Even the best driver on the grid needs a team mate to push them – Norris

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