“It’s a shame, but that’s the rules”: Full radio from Verstappen’s acrimonious Spanish GP

For the first 55 laps of the Spanish Grand Prix, Max Verstappen wrung everything he could out of Red Bull’s RB21 in pursuit of the McLaren drivers.

The team chose an aggressive, three-stop tyre strategy, maximising his opportunity to run in clear air and avoid long periods of tyre management – a McLaren strength.

But by his final scheduled pit stop Verstappen hadn’t quite done enough to get ahead of either of the McLarens. He was starting to slip back from them when the Safety Car was deployed with 11 laps remaining.

That proved the turning point. It led to potentially two errors by Red Bull, and a disastrous reaction to them by Verstappen.

Verstappen’s Spanish Grand Prix radio messages

Jump to:

“The car behind is Norris”
“Box opposite Norris”
“I don’t really like that one”
“It’s so hard to drive”
“This is unbelievable, this car”
“The ride in the car is just completely broken”
“It will make a difference, fresh tyres”
“It’s a shame, but that’s the rules”
“You have one more shot”

“The car behind is Norris”

Verstappen made an excellent start from third on the grid, passing Lando Norris around the outside to run second behind the other McLaren of race leader Oscar Piastri. However as the stint unfolded the McLarens’ superior pace told, and Verstappen recognised there was no point trying to defend his position from Norris at this stage.

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Lap: 1/66 VER: 1’23.696
Lambiase	Last car approaching back of the grid, Max.
Lambiase	The car behind is Norris.
Lambiase	Mode six, mode six. Okay, gap ahead 0.8, behind 0.9.
Lap: 2/66 VER: 1’20.537
Lambiase	DRS now enabled.
Lambiase	Get behind ts 1.3.
Lap: 3/66 VER: 1’21.032
Lambiase	Okay Max so that gap is 0.7. Gap behind to Lando, 1.7
Lap: 4/66 VER: 1’20.964
Lambiase	Okay, gap ahead 1.3, gap behind 1.9.
Lap: 5/66 VER: 1’20.822
Lambiase	Gap ahead 2, gap behind 1.7. Main losses, four and 10. And areas of management.
Lap: 6/66 VER: 1’20.760
Lambiase	Gap behind 1.3.
Lap: 7/66 VER: 1’20.760
Lambiase	Cancel the pull toggle turn five.
Lap: 8/66 VER: 1’21.019
Lambiase	Piastri last lap a 20.9, gap 2.9.
Lap: 9/66 VER: 1’21.168
Lambiase	Piastri 20.8, Norris 20.9.
Lambiase	Strat three, strat three. Torque seven for turn seven and turn 10, Max, torque seven. Expect Lando to try and push up to you. For what it’s worth, Russell 22.1. Mode nine, please Max, please. Mode nine.

“Box opposite Norris”

Red Bull told Verstappen to pit, but not to follow Norris if he came in. The McLaren stayed out and Verstappen took his first tyre change on lap 13.

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Lap: 11/66 VER: 1’21.143
Lambiase	Norris DRS, 0.8.
Lambiase	I’ll have a front flap update when you can, Max.
Verstappen	Ah, it’s fine, just no grip. Compared to them, that is.
Lambiase	Yeah, copy that, understood. Currently two tenths a lap to Oscar ahead.
Lap: 12/66 VER: 1’21.623
Lambiase	Gap 0.6
Verstappen	Yeah I’m losing the rear now, high speed.
Lambiase	Okay, copy that. Verstappen defends from Norris at turn one
Verstappen	Both talk together Maybe back the front wing out, two clicks.
Lambiase	Display five available.
Lap: 13/66 VER: 1’26.030
Lambiase	Okay that’s 0.4.
Verstappen	Suffering my rear tyre.
Lambiase	0.4. Norris passes Verstappen
Lambiase	Max, box and pit confirm opposite Norris. Box, pit confirm, opposite Norris.
Lambiase	Strat 12 in pit lane. He makes his pit stop
Lap: 14/66 VER: 1’37.200
Lambiase	Okay, strat 13, white line on the exit, and tyre nine please Max, tyre nine from here. Strat 13, white line on the exit.
Lap: 15/66 VER: 1’19.630
Lambiase	Display 10, position one, display 10, position one.
Lambiase	Mode six.

“I don’t really like that one”

Neither McLaren driver visited the pits for another eight laps. While Red Bull kept trying to find better performance modes for Verstappen’s car, one of them wasn’t to his liking, so another was chosen:

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Lap: 16/66 VER: 1’19.450
Lambiase	Strat three, when you can, Max.
Lap: 17/66 VER: 1’20.011
Lambiase	Press and hold overtake, three seconds. Antonelli ahead, 21.9 last lap.
Lap: 18/66 VER: 1’19.786
Lambiase	Verstappen passes Antonelli on the outside of turn 12 Just info, Antonelli does have DRS but won’t be a threat to turn one, Max. Car ahead, Russell, 21.4.
Lap: 19/66 VER: 1’20.259
Lambiase	Mode nine please Max, mode nine.
Verstappen	I don’t really like that one to be honest, I think it’s not good.
Lambiase	Understood. Mode six and you can use the overtake if you need to on the start-finish straight.
Lap: 20/66 VER: 1’19.840
Lambiase	Just a reminder, that’s tyre nine from here, currently tyre eight.
Lap: 21/66 VER: 1’19.911
Lambiase	Mode five, mode five.
Lap: 22/66 VER: 1’19.640
Lambiase	Okay info Max, Norris pitted that last lap, he’s still in pit lane.
Lap: 23/66 VER: 1’20.183
Lambiase	Okay, Piastri in the pit lane, you’ve just crossed him. Front flap update when you can please.
Verstappen	Yeah, I think this is a bit better. It’s just, if you put too much in the rear degs really hard, better to run it a bit understeery.
Lambiase	Understood Max.
Lap: 25/66 VER: 1’20.124
Lambiase	Mode six.

“It’s so hard to drive”

However as the stint wore on and the tyres degraded, Verstappen became increasingly unhappy with his car’s balance. He made his second pit stop with more than half the race remaining, and from this point it was clear he would have to make a third visit.

As in Monaco, he likened his car’s gearshifts to those from a seventies F1 car.

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Lap: 27/66 VER: 1’20.672
Verstappen	Fucking hell it’s so hard to drive, like, I can’t brake, and then I feel no turn-in, in low-speed.
Lap: 29/66 VER: 1’24.509
Lambiase	Box and pit confirm, Max. Box, pit confirm. And strat 12 in pit lane. He makes his pit stop and switches to mediums
Lambiase	Strat two and white line on the exit.
Lap: 30/66 VER: 1’36.279
Lambiase	You’ll come out just ahead of Hamilton, racing Hamilton.
Lap: 31/66 VER: 1’18.216
Lambiase	Okay Max it’s 37 laps remaining, 37 laps remaining.
Lambiase	Stint one, 13 laps. Stint two, 16 laps. We are looking at roughly 18 laps.
Verstappen	Are they all on mediums ahead of me?
Lambiase	Correct, yeah.
Lap: 32/66 VER: 1’18.455
Lambiase	So Piastri last lap was at 19.7, Norris 20.3, Leclerc 20.0
Verstappen	Yeah, it’s again like I’ve no clutch when upshifting.
Lambiase	1973?
Verstappen	Yeah, maybe ’74 now.
Lap: 33/66 VER: 1’18.727
Lambiase	Display three, position three. Display three position three, Leclerc last lap 20.0, same for Norris.
Lap: 34/66 VER: 1’18.924
Lambiase	Okay mate, that’s 33 laps complete, 33 remaining, all to play for. All to play for.
Lap: 35/66 VER: 1’19.141
Lambiase	Display three, position four. Display three, position four. Head down mate, 32 laps, head down.

“This is unbelievable, this car”

Now on the medium rubber, Verstappen was pushing hard to gain on the McLarens, and was periodically frustrated by lapped traffic.

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Lap: 36/66 VER: 1’19.218
Lambiase	Piastri last lap was a 20.2, Norris 19.8. Blue flags for Colapinto ahead.
Lap: 38/66 VER: 1’19.443
Lambiase	Another 10 or so laps, Max. Gap to Piastri, race leader, eight seconds.
Lap: 40/66 VER: 1’19.726
Lambiase	Okay, so McLaren perceiving the threat now Max, they realise they have to push on, it’s a long way to go for them.
Lambiase	Piastri last lap 19.9, Norris 19.4.
Lap: 41/66 VER: 1’19.922
Lambiase	Piastri 20.3, Norris 19.9.
Verstappen	He laps Colapinto Oh, this is unbelievable, this car. Just staying in front for so long.
Lap: 42/66 VER: 1’19.963
Lambiase	Piastri now at 6.8. Strat three, strat three. Fail nine when you can, fail nine, when you can.

“The ride in the car is just completely broken”

As Verstappen neared his third pit stop, no messages between him and Lambiase were heard for six minutes. The silence was broken by Red Bull’s instruction for him to pit.

However their hopes they might get ahead of either McLaren by ‘undercutting’ them were dashed. Norris and Piastri made their pit stops on the next two laps and both emerged ahead of Verstappen.

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Lap: 47/66 VER: 1’23.558
Lambiase	Box, and pit confirm, Max. Box, pit confirm. And strat 12 in the pit lane.
Lap: 48/66 VER: 1’35.915
Lambiase	Strat three.
Lap: 49/66 VER: 1’17.141
Lambiase	And Norris at pit out. And Norris car ahead.
Lap: 50/66 VER: 1’17.997
Verstappen	Mate the ride in the car is just completely broken.
Lambiase	Okay, Max.
Lap: 51/66 VER: 1’18.734
Lambiase	So info, Max, it’s a 19 lap stint, 19 laps.
Lap: 52/66 VER: 1’18.682
Verstappen	Norris and Vertappen lap Lawson and Bearman Fucking hell!

“It will make a difference, fresh tyres”

Soon afterwards the Safety Car was deployed in response to Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes stopping in a gravel trap. Verstappen immediately advised Red Bull to pit him, saying he wanted “fresh tyres”.

However having pitted three times the only suitable tyres they now had left were the hard compound which, as Lambiase admitted, no one else had tried so far in the race.

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Lap: 55/66 VER: 1’34.644
Lambiase	Safety Car deployed Max. Safety Car deployed. Dash positive, dash positive.
Verstappen	Do we have another set of tyres? It will make a difference, fresh tyres.
Lambiase	Okay Max, box, and pit confirm. Strat 12 in pit lane. Box, pit confirm, strat 12 in pit lane. He pits and changes to hard tyres
Lambiase	Strat three please Max, white line on the exit. Strat three, white line on the exit.
Lap: 56/66 VER: 2’25.126
Verstappen	Er, why, why the fuck are we – what is this tyre?
Lambiase	That’s the hard tyre, Max.
Verstappen	Why? Why are we on a hard?
Lambiase	That was the only option.
Verstappen	Did somebody run it in the race?
Lambiase	Negative.
Lambiase	Double yellows, turn 10. Strat six, please, Max.
Lap: 58/66 VER: 2’08.675
Lambiase	Engine four, engine four. And fail three, fail three, fail. And then back to engine eight. Track is clear at turn 10, Max. We are going to have to wait for lap cars to be released.
Lambiase	Okay, lapped cars may now overtake, so stay on the racing line Max, stay on the racing line. Mode three now, mode three.
Lap: 59/66 VER: 2’02.657
Lambiase	Cars behind, Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton, they’re all on scrubbed soft. Ahead of you Piastri and Norris, scrubbed soft.
Lambiase	So it’s not this lap Max. Maybe one more. I think that would leave six racing laps.
Lap: 60/66 VER: 2’02.501
Lambiase	Okay, so it is in this lap, Max. Racing from the line, Max, which is quite early on the straight. And strat three.
Lambiase	Safety Car turn 13.
Lambiase	Safety Car in pit lane. Piastri accelerates away

“It’s a shame, but that’s the rules”

Verstappen clashed with both Leclerc and Russell after the restart. He remained ahead of the Mercedes driver despite going off at turn one.

Two laps later, Lambiase advised him to let Russell through. This ultimately proved to be a mistake, as the stewards later confirmed Verstappen kept his position legitimately.

Verstappen disagreed with Lambiase’s order, and although he did comply, he initially made contact with Russell at turn five, before giving way further around the lap.

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Lap: 61/66 VER: 1’18.862
Verstappen	Pit straight Fuck! Mate, he just rammed into me!
Verstappen	Verstappen leaves the track at turn one as Russell tries to pass him He did the same, that’s a penalty.
Verstappen	Charles just rammed into me on the straight.
Lambiase	Copy that Max. Mode six when you can.
Lap: 62/66 VER: 1’17.019
Lambiase	Russell 0.4.
Lap: 63/66 VER: 1’17.608
Lambiase	Max, can you let Russell through, please? Let Russell through.
Verstappen	What? I was ahead! Mate, what the fuck?
Lambiase	My advice is to let him through.
Verstappen	Mate I was ahead, he just rammed me off the road!
Lambiase	But that’s the rules. That’s the rules we have to play with. It’s a shame, but that’s the rules.

“You have one more shot”

Red Bull still had hopes of regaining the position as the last lap began. However Verstappen wasn’t able to get close enough to attack the Mercedes.

It would have proved in vain anyway, as he was given a 10-second time penalty for the contact with Russell, which he acknowledged as he toured back in.

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Lap: 65/66 VER: 1’18.122
Lambiase	Verstappen lets Russell draw alongside him at turn five, hits him, then lets him pass for good at turn 12 Two laps remaining.
Lambiase	You’ve got one shot at the final straight Max.
Verstappen	What are you saying?
Lambiase	You have one more shot at the final straight. You have full battery.
Chequered flag
Lambiase	Fail 84.
Lambiase	Max, for info you’ve been given a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision, I believe at turn five, which drops you to P10 at the moment.
Verstappen	Yeah, yeah.

2025 Spanish Grand Prix

• Russell’s radio comments influenced Red Bull’s decision to let him past Verstappen
• Verstappen says he won’t make any changes to his driving to avoid a ban
• ‘No issues’ with Verstappen but ‘it’d be different if he’d taken me out’ – Russell
• Ferrari “don’t want us to talk much” about “massive” Spanish GP problems – Hamilton
• Verstappen versus Russell is Formula 1’s best grudge match for years

Browse all 2025 Spanish Grand Prix articles