Verstappen explains Spanish GP F1 radio outburst

Max Verstappen says his Formula 1 radio outburst in the Spanish Grand Prix was down to a series of strategic decisions made by Red Bull in Barcelona.

Verstappen managed to get ahead of Valtteri Bottas on the opening lap but struggled to stick with eventual race winner Lewis Hamilton in the opening soft tyre stint.

As Verstappen continued to lose time to Hamilton, the Dutchman became audibly frustrated over team radio with Red Bull’s decision not to stop him for fresh rubber.

“Do you want me to repeat it again? The [censored] tyre is dead,” Verstappen said.

Red Bull opted to keep Verstappen out to ensure he did not pit and come into traffic - a factor Verstappen didn’t care about.

“I’m losing so much time,” Verstappen added. “Who cares if they [the Racing Points] get in front, I’m easily faster.”

After he finally made his first stop, the Dutchman continued to vent his frustration.

“How about we just focus on our race, first, for a start instead of looking at Lewis? Because clearly on the soft tyre we were not as fast as them. So can we just make sure we do our job and let them to their job?,” he said.

Verstappen explained his outburst in the post-race press conference: 

“At the end of the day you can’t control what they’re doing, you can only control what we do so we just have to make sure we do the fastest strategy possible for us.

“I wanted to pit, and they didn’t call me in. I was massively struggling on the tyres and I lost quite a lot of lap time over the last two laps and I already said on the radio I don’t care if you put me out behind the Racing points because I will pass them easily because we’re a lot faster, especially on new tyres so that was the conversation.”

Verstappen now trails Hamilton by 37 points in the drivers' championship after six rounds.