The two F1 greatness tests Verstappen is passing and failing

"They can all fuck off."

Well, we knew exactly how Max Verstappen would respond to the criticism contained below. He said the words above at the end of his print media pen duties post-Hungarian Grand Prix, having endured a torrid, battling afternoon in his Red Bull.

He’d then gone back to his team’s hospitality behemoth against post-race protocols, cooled, headed back to face the media, answered everything else rather reasonably, then left with one more spit of ire fired towards any critics he was perceiving at the time.

Throughout Verstappen’s Formula 1 career, the Hungaroring has been the scene of much mixed magic and misery. Sunday was certainly more of the latter. But what stood out most was the Dutchman’s spectacularly furious responses to his various tribulations. This is a driver that remains 76 points clear in the drivers’ championship.

The first signs of his tetchiness had shone through in his Q1 rain shouts to Gianpiero Lambiase. Then he banged his steering wheel after missing pole by 0.046s – with Lando Norris set to enlarge that gap anyway before Yuki Tsunoda’s Q3 crash, given the big track evolution factor at Budapest. In the race, so many things drew scathing words.

First was sending a message to the FIA about having to hand back second to Norris over his cheeky at best, cynical at worst, taking to the Turn 1 runoff, this having braked so late with no hard limit on the outside at the race start. Then his car brake feeling drew fury, then Lambiase’s suggestion of an engine mode switch added to the angst.

Verstappen and race engineer Lambiase have at times enjoyed a intense dynamic, which found new reaches in Hungary

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Verstappen got sarcastic about being left exposed to the undercuts successfully deployed by Mercedes and Ferrari, then completely unloaded in response to some of the same from his engineer over his fierce pace early in his final stint.

And then there were his hypocritical complaints about Hamilton “moving under braking” and later “a lot of shit thrown at me in Austria" on the same topic.

Given the speed with which he was barrelling down the inside and the rival he’s now collided with six times since 2021, we can suggest that had Hamilton not raced as he did on this occasion Verstappen surely would’ve ended up penalised anyway for forcing the Mercedes off.

Explaining his exchanges with Lambiase afterwards, Verstappen said, “I was just annoyed with today and maybe the team, at the time, didn’t realise what they did wrong or maybe didn’t see it was so severe, but in the car, you have different feelings”.

"Maybe some people need to wake up a bit now"
Max Verstappen

This is indeed all part of his method and has brought him 61 race wins and three world titles. But in so publicly throwing his team under the bus, Verstappen heaped pressure on Red Bull on a day where he’d far from covered himself in glory with his various choices.

Had Michael Schumacher, the flawed genius F1 great Verstappen is most closely compared to, been racing in an era when team radio broadcasts were entrenched as part of F1’s show, it’s almost impossible to imagine him doing the same.

Team discipline was a different thing for the German – dirty laundry was never aired in public, per the memories of his colleagues such as Ross Brawn and James Allison.

Comparisons between Schumacher and Verstappen have grown, but the German never publicly took his frustration out on his own team

Photo by: Sutton Images

But was Verstappen sending a deliberate message in his various outbursts? He’s too clever to know they won’t be broadcast and, after missing pole amid the disappointment of Red Bull’s major upgrade package not delivering as much gain as Verstappen had openly hoped for, he’d said the following.

“Maybe some people need to wake up a bit now.”

Christian Horner’s leadership and the early 2024 scandal having an impact on standards within the team might’ve been a target – a warning about the Red Bull domination era crumbling from within, if you will. So too could this be a call to arms for the soon-to-be Adrian Newey-less technical department around the consistent danger McLaren’s MCL38 now poses?

It was also revealed last weekend how any chances of Verstappen being poached by a rival before 2027 have been greatly reduced with Helmut Marko signing a new agreement with the team, which effectively restricts the world champion’s options. Perhaps he’s not overly thrilled with the uncertainty Red Bull suddenly finds itself in regarding F1’s competitive order.

But if this warning is heeded and Red Bull’s next attempt to fettle what Horner is now calling a "very peaky" car that Verstappen said had "been like that already for a while" after qualifying proves successful, then Verstappen’s Hungary tactics will have to be revisited.

If this is all a gambit that saves a 2024 title McLaren believes is still on and secures 2025 as well, Verstappen will be heading into F1’s next new rules era as a five-time world champion. That would make him a statistical and tactical F1 great too.

Despite his outbursts, Verstappen is showing exactly how much he wants to dominate in F1 again

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

But while that remains to be seen, we do now know that Verstappen is doing all he can in the cockpit.

“I feel like I probably push harder than I did last year, but it's just not coming anymore to have these great lap times,” he said after Hungary qualifying. He later told Dutch media on this that “it does feel that I'm more on the limit this year than last year”.

Around the handling mismatch he clearly can’t stand – low-speed corner understeer and actually too much oversteer even for his driving preference strengths in the high-speed stuff to preserve best tyre life – Verstappen is pushing on relentlessly.

By keeping Red Bull in contention through this extremely challenging period, Verstappen is doing something truly great. For many, however, it’s a shame it comes with all the angst

It’s led to mistakes such as his Monaco qualifying crash, his Canada slips and surely played a part in his Norris and Hamilton crashes this year. But it’s also revealing just how brilliant Verstappen can be.

In a car Sergio Perez basically can’t keep on the road in qualifying and against ever stiffer opposition, Verstappen is delivering excellence.

Think back to his driving with Norris bearing down and lacking critical tyre temperature to win at Imola. Holding off Norris to win in Spain. His decisive and difference-making inters/slicks calls at Silverstone to secure second place.

By keeping Red Bull in contention through this extremely challenging period after its 2023 annihilation of the rest, Verstappen is doing something truly great. For many, however, it’s a shame it comes with all the angst. For Verstappen, this is just who he is and how he works.

Like him or loathe him, Verstappen's style has delivered three consecutive F1 world titles

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool