The Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday was a hotbed of drama, featuring Max Verstappen’s heated radio exchanges and Lando Norris’s internal struggle with team orders.
Verstappen, the Red Bull driver, found himself at the center of controversy due to his fiery radio messages during the race. Frustrated with both stewards’ decisions and his team’s strategy, Verstappen had several tense exchanges with his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase.
At one point, Verstappen snapped, “No mate, don’t give me that s— now. You guys gave me this s— strategy, OK? I’m trying to rescue what’s left.”
When confronted about these messages after the race, Verstappen was unapologetic. Asked about pundits suggesting his comments were disrespectful, he bluntly stated, “They can all f— off,” before walking away from journalists.
Defending his communication style, Verstappen later to Sky Sports that,
“I don’t think we need to apologise. I just think we need to do a better job.” He added, “I don’t know why people think you cannot be vocal on a radio. This is a sport. If some people don’t like that then stay home.”
Meanwhile, McLaren’s Lando Norris faced a different kind of challenge. Norris found himself leading his teammate Oscar Piastri late in the race, thanks to an undercut strategy. However, the team requested that he let Piastri win.
Norris admitted his mind was “going pretty crazy” as he contemplated the championship implications.
“You’ve got to be selfish in this sport at times. You’ve got to think of yourself, that’s priority number one,” Norris said.
However, he ultimately decided to follow team orders. Explaining his decision, Norris stated,
“I didn’t deserve to win the race today. Simple as that. So the fact I was in that position was incorrect.” He added, “I know what we’ve done in the past between Oscar and myself, he’s helped me plenty of times, and I think this is a different situation.”
His second-place finish closed Verstappen’s championship lead to 76 points. Reflecting on this, Norris said,
“It’s still optimistic. It’s still a big goal to say we can close 70 points, as a driver I can close 70 points in half a season.”
