Max Verstappen declined to apologise for his language and stood his ground on Thursday when questioned about his aggressive behaviour at last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
In defiant mood as he talked to reporters ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, he explained it was his style to be “vocal” and sometimes “harsh” but said it was how he worked with the Red Bull team.
Verstappen collided with Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages of last Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix before finishing a frustrated fifth in a race during he spent much time abusing his team and his race engineer with a stream of expletives.
He had been up until three am the morning of the Grand Prix taking part in computerised sim racing.
“We talked about it,” he said.
“You don’t need to worry – there are no other races coming up! No, it’s not that I have a ban.
“I don’t need to tell them what to do in their private time over the weekend and it’s the same for me.
“It’s not something new and, for me, it’s something very important in my life. There are no other sim races coming up anyway, so no-one has to worry about that.
“But it’s always when you don’t win the race that you blame it on things like staying up late or being one kilo overweight or what you ate for dinner last night.
“There’s always things to make up that you can argue about when you don’t win a race, but, for example, in Imola I did win the race – both of them. For me, this is not something new. I’ve been doing this since 2015,” he added.
On his outbursts last weekend, he said he praised the team “many times” and was frustrated.
“I want to do the best I can and the team wants to do the best it can… It’s harsh, but it’s how we operate. It’s not personal. We win and we lose together and not everyone agrees with everything.
“I’m a three-time world champion and I know what I can do and what I can’t do and for me it’s like any other day.
“We are not the quickest at the moment and we have to figure out what to do with the car,” he added.
Seven-time champion Hamilton suggested Verstappen had failed to act “like a world champion” when required at the Hungaroring.
“You have to be a team leader, a team member. Maybe not so much a leader, but always to remember you are team-mate to a lot of people,” Hamilton told reporters.
“You have to act like a world champion.
“Not like it was last weekend,” the Briton added.
